Lahore Literary Festival 2017 commences from February 24

The fifth, three-day edition of the annual Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) commences Friday, February 24, at the Alhamra Art Center, Mall Road. With a roster of over 100 tantalising thinkers from home and abroad-including Lebanon, Syria, Indonesia, South Africa, Germany, the US, the UK-LLF 2017 will feature thought-provoking panel discussions with some of the most insightful voices in the arts and literature, book launches and signings, poetry recitals, musical performances, and a major art show, Digging Deep, Crossing Far, comprising works by contemporary German and Pakistani artists.
"This year's edition will bring to prominence Lahore's rich and storied cultural traditions, and its openness and curiosity for engagement with the wider world to provide audiences with a stimulating array of ideas and intellectual inquiry," said Razi Ahmed, LLF founder and CEO.
Some of this year's highlights include the launch of author Mohsin Hamid's Exit West; discussion with author and social worker Tehmina Durrani; artist-educator Salima Hashmi and Dr Samina Iqbal's Naya Daur, Shakir Ali and Lahore Art Circle; journalist Anita Anand and historian William Dalrymple's Kohinoor, and a session to mark the launch of the V&A museum catalogue John Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts of the Punjab.
Scheduled speakers include the celebrated Indonesian fiction writer Eka Kurniawan, South African playwright and novelist Gillian Slovo, modern South Asian historian Dr Pippa Virdee, Pakistani-English poet Adrian A. Husain, Punjabi scholar Dr Ebad Nabeel Shad, Punjabi poet Khaqan Haider, and Lebanese writer Hanan al-Shaykh.
The full schedule for LLF 2017 will be made public a week prior to the event. LLF 2017 is a free public event, and seating at all sessions is on a first-come, first-served basis. Audience members are expected to take their seats at least 10 minutes prior to the start of each session; entry to halls where discussions are in session and ongoing will not be permitted. The festival will be held at the Alhamra Art Center, Mall Road, from February 24-26.
The International Advisory Committee for LLF 2017 comprises Maina Bhagat of the Apeejay Kolkata Literature Fest, Libby Owen Edmunds of the Galle Literary Festival, Yasmin El-Rifae of the Palestine Festival of Literature, Namita Gokhale of the Jaipur Literature Festival, and Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi of the Dhaka Hay Festival. LLF is an independent, not-for-profit organisation registered under Pakistan's Societies Registration Act, 1860.-PR