The three-day Adab Festival Pakistan (AdabFest2019) will be held next month at the Sindh Governor House Karachi where over 200,000 people are expected to celebrate ideas, debate and creativity because more than a hundred Pakistani and international authors, intellectuals and media personalities will be participating.
Ameena Saiyid (OBE) and Asif Farrukhi, the founders and directors of the event made this announcement at an introductory press conference at the Karachi Press Club, here on Tuesday. As Amina quits the Oxford University Press (OUP), she has come up with an idea to organise the first Adab Festival Pakistan in partnership with Getz Pharma on February 1, 2 and 3. Her erstwhile leadership produced the OUP's mega literary event Karachi Literature Festival.
Amina and Farrukhi expressed optimism that people would be fascinated by literature in diverse Pakistani languages, book launches, talks, interviews, discussions, mushairah/poetry sessions, a book fair, music, dance, theatre, comedy/satire, and film, at the event.
The organizers of are not using the name 'Pakistan Literature Festival' because certain legal proceedings against them restrain them from using that name, temporarily. Since they face no legal bar against holding literature festivals, they have decided to give it the title of Adab Festival Pakistan (AdabFest).
A delighted Ameena Saiyid expressed hope the event would become a movement across Pakistan. "Pakistan's historically rich and diverse literatures and cultures have long been facing challenges, resulting in stifled diversity of expression and in stereotypes which are sometimes internalized," she said.
Asif Farrukhi said that with the new year, a series of yearlong literary and cultural festivals begin and they want this to be a regular series of events in as many cities of the country as possible. "We want to highlight and celebrate the depth and diversity of Pakistan's many languages and literary traditions, their literature and authors," he said, adding that the event organisers want the world to be as excited about these writers as possible.
On Getz Pharma's partnership with AdabFest, Getz Pharma's CEO Khalid Mehmood said that being a Pakistani pharma company they strongly feel that stable health of a nation depends not only on a healthy body but a healthy mind and a healthy soul as well.
He said the nation's body would not have a healthy soul or a healthy mind without literature, art and dialogue in a democratic civil manner. For that reason, he said, Getz Pharma support the Adab Festival being led by two known personalities Ameena Saiyid and Asif Farrukhi, who have a track record of creating many festivals and inspire people throughout the country.
The keynote speakers at the first AdabFest include Dr Ishrat Husain, Arfa Zehra, Peter Oborne and Haseena Moeen. Among those more than 100 speakers who have so far confirmed participation at the AdabFest include: Mustansar Husain Tarrar, Iftikhar Arif, Kishwar Naheed, Mohammad Hanif, Zia Mohyeddin, Zehra Nigah, Anwer Maqsood, H M Naqvi, Harris Khalique, Fawzia Afzal Khan, Baela Raza Jamil, Kamran Asdar Ali, Tariq Khosa, Javed Jabbar, Attiya Dawood, Hameed Haroon, Salim Raza, Nadeem Husain, Richard Heller, Ian Vaughan-Arbuckle, Nafisa Shah, Nasim Zehra, Omar Shahid Hamid, Yaqoob Bangash, Nimra Bucha, Veerta Ali Ujan, Zarrar Khuhro.
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