Following a sell-out day in 2017, the Lahore Literary Festival returns to the British Library on Oct. 20, 2018. Showcasing the rich cultural traditions of Pakistan in writing and the arts, this year’s event features award-winning writer and journalist Ahmed Rashid, British-Pakistani media artist Aphra Shemza, food writer Sameen Rushdie, Sanam Maher, 8th Earl of Harewood David Lascelles, popular historian Charles Allen, lawyer and novelist Osama Siddique, writer Sonia Faleiro and more.
The day concludes with an evening performance by Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad Qawals.
This is a ticketed event. For those interested in attending, tickets can be purchased from the British Library.
10:00 Registration
10:30 Opening Remarks
Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, New York; and Razi Ahmed, Founding Director, Lahore Literary Festival
11:00-11:45 Imagining the Mughals
Co-presented with The Pakistan Society
How the British represented the Mughals of the colonial subcontinent in images and subsequent depictions as seen from a contemporary lens
• Mehreen Chida-Razvi, a specialist on the art and architecture of Mughal South Asia, she is currently writing a book on the patronage and production of the mausoleum of Emperor Jahangir
• Zehra Jumabhoy, art critic and historian specialising in contemporary South Asian art, The Courtauld Institute of Art
• Aphra Shemza, new media artist working with abstraction, interactivity and light
• Amin Jaffer (moderator), Senior Curator of The Al-Thani Collection and the former International Director of Asian Art at Christie’s
11:00–11:45 Panorama of Muslims
Shining a spotlight on the lives and accomplishments of a mosaic of Islamic civilisation, comprising brilliant minds stretching across time and geography
• Ali Mahmood, author of Muslims
• Alex von Tunzelmann (moderator), historian and writer of, among other books, Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire
11:15–11:45 It’s a Woman’s World
Mishal Husain discusses her new book, “The Skills: From First Job to Dream Job – What Every Woman Needs to Know,” on women, authority and the skills needed to survive and thrive in the 21st century workplace
• Mishal Husain, author, journalist and award-winning news presenter for, among others, Today, BBC World News and BBC Weekend News
• Nomia Iqbal (moderator), radio and TV journalist and presenter, currently presenting for the BBC World Service’s Newsday
12:00–12:45 The Crux of Kargil
Dissecting the insights about peace and warfare found in journalist Nasim Zehra’s book on the 1999 Kargil War
• Ahmed Rashid, journalist and author of five books on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, including the bestseller Taliban
• Nasim Zehra, journalist and author of From Kargil to the Coup: Events That Shook Pakistan
• Myra MacDonald, journalist and author specialising in South Asian politics and security. She was a correspondent with Reuters for nearly 30 years and has published a book on the Siachen conflict
• Mishal Husain (moderator), journalist currently presenting news on BBC1
12:00–12:45 Silent Dissent
Celebrating the art and activism of Lahore-based artist Ijaz ul Hassan
• Ijaz ul Hassan, Lahore-based painter, teacher, art critic and writer
• Sona Datta (moderator), former curator at the British Museum and host of BBC4’s Treasures of the Indus
13:00–13:45 Salaam, Dastarkhwan
In championing classic Indian recipes, Sameen Rushdie explores the shared culinary heritage of North India and Pakistan
• Sameen Rushdie, author of Indian Cookery
• Razia Iqbal (moderator), BBC broadcaster and journalist
13:00–13:45 Aesthetics of Persian Poetic Forms
Co-presented with The British Library
Discussing the interactions of Persian poetic forms and literary production in Urdu and Bengali through an exploration of literary aesthetics in the multilingual environment of South Asia
• Richard Williams, SOAS faculty member whose research intersects music and sound studies with the study of religions and Indian cultural history
• Sahba Shayani, instructor in Persian, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
• Arthur Dudney, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Cambridge, he is working on a history of Persian literary education
• Nur Sobers-Khan (moderator), Lead Curator for South Asia at the British Library
14:00–14:45 Time Past, Time Present
How multiple pasts and conflicting histories can fashion a writer’s sense of storytelling
• Osama Siddique, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, a lawyer in New York and Lahore, a reform consultant in Pakistan, and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. He recently authored his first novel, Snuffing Out the Moon
• Romesh Gunesekera, author of four novels, including Reef, which was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Guardian Fiction Prize
• Shrabani Basu, author, journalist and historian, her books include Curry: The Story of the Nation’s Favourite Dish; Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan; Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant
• Claire Armitstead (moderator), Associate Editor, Culture for The Guardian, she also presents the weekly Guardian Books podcast
14:00–14:45 Sketches from a Howdah
In his latest book, F.S. Aijazuddin matches Charlotte Canning’s exquisite watercolours and sketches to her vivid, entertaining, and often witty descriptions of various locales across British India
• F.S. Aijazuddin, Dawn columnist, noted art historian and author of over a dozen books
• Earl of Harewood David Lascelles, Cinematographer and movie and television producer with 25 years of experience
• Charles Allen (moderator), historian and author whose work focuses largely on India, and the Indian Subcontinent in general, including but not limited to Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling
15:00–15:45 A New Pakistan: Rhetoric or A-Changin’?
Pakistan marked its third democratic transition in 2018. A look at the first 100 days and the way ahead for the new government of Imran Khan
• Ahmed Nawaz, education and peace activist who survived an attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School in 2014
• Madiha Afzal, non-resident fellow in the Global Economy and Development program and in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings, she is the author of Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society, and the State
• Sulema Jahangir, London-based Pakistani lawyer specializing in human rights
• Saroop Ijaz, columnist, lawyer and human rights activist
• Ahmed Rashid (moderator), author and journalist
15:00–15:45 Small is Beautiful
A discussion on Mughal miniatures from the Collections, and how they were obtained and brought to Britain
• Emily Hannam, Assistant Curator of Islamic and South Asian Collections, Royal Collection Trust
• Dr. Saqib Baburi, Curator for the Persian Manuscripts Digitisation Project at the British Library
• Tanvir Hasan (moderator), an accredited conservation architect as well as the Deputy Chairman and lead Director of Donald Insall Associates, London
16:00–16:45 An Intrepid Life
Exploring the rise of social media, ethics in journalism, and the unabashedly bold life of Qandeel Baloch
• Sanam Maher, journalist and author of The Sensational Life and Death of Qandeel Baloch
• Sonia Faleiro, author of Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars
• Saroop Ijaz, columnist, lawyer and human rights activist
• Saima Mohsin (moderator), a correspondent and anchor working for radio and TV in the United Kingdom, United States and Pakistan
16:00–16:45 Agony and Ecstasy
Emphasising the ageless messages of Khawaja Ghulam Farid and Bulleh Shah through the recitation and contextualisation of Punjab’s Sufi poetry
• Christopher Shackle, Emeritus Professor of the Modern Languages of South Asia at SOAS, he was given Pakistan’s highest award for the arts, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, in 2005
• Pritpal Singh, Trustee of South Asian Arts, U.K.
With Nadia Jamil, Pakistani actor and activist, and Rishm Syed, Pakistani visual artist, joining the panel to recite Sufi poetry at the end of the session
17:00–18:00 India and Pakistan: Divided by Democracy?
A tale of two states, post-1947, linked by geography yet divided by different politics
• Aitzaz Ahsan, lawmaker and senior advocate, he played an instrumental role in Pakistan’s lawyers’ movement for an independent judiciary
• Lord Meghnad Desai, economist and politician, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award, in 2008
• Victoria Schofield (moderator), journalist, biographer and historian. Author of, among other notable works, Wavell: Soldier and Stateman
19:30-21:00 Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad Qawals
An evening performance of Qawwali Sufi music, as well as classical genres such as tarana, thumri and khayal, by masters Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal and Brothers brings the LLF to a close. Tickets for the evening performance can be booked separately from the main event at the British Library.
Details
Event: Lahore Literary Festival 2018
Where: Knowledge Centre
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London, NW1 2DB
When: Saturday, October 20, 2018, 09:30-18:00
Price: £40.00
Library Members: £40.00
Seniors (60+): £35.00
Students: £32.00
Registered Unemployeds: £32.00
Under-18s: £32.00
Enquiries: +44 (0)1937 546546 (boxoffice@bl.uk)
Patrons: Taimur Hassan; Lina and Ali Munir; Nighat and Syed Yawar Ali; Mian Amir Mehmood; Tausif Peracha; Rangoonwala Foundation; Ali Almakky; Shahnaz Lockwood
A very special thanks to Saira and Iqbal Z. Ahmed; Khawar Qureshi QC; H.E. Thomas Drew; Roly Keating; Jon Fawcett; Susannah Stevenson; Nasreen Rehman; Nour Nazifa Aslam; Irfan Zulfiqar; Madeeha Naseem
Sponsors:
*This programme may be subject to change at the discretion of the Lahore Literary Festival
