NEW YORK – The Lahore Literary Festival (LLF), the first from Pakistan to be held abroad, on Saturday began its day one by showcasing the whole mosaic of Pakistan’s cultural creativity – including literature, poetry and music.
“We are pleased that what we initiated, the first Pakistani festival of ideas at the Asia Society, is taking place on 7-8 May,” Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said in her welcome address.
“It all started when I called on Asia Society President Josette Sheeran and proposed the idea to her. She embraced it enthusiastically and LLF founder Razi Ahmed made it happen.”
Razi on his part said, “For four years now, we’ve had the privilege of bringing some of the most creative and insightful voices in the world to Pakistan’s cultural capital to engage with our writers, artists and audiences. We are delighted now to be taking some of Pakistan’s finest to the creative capital of the US.”
The LLF in New York – part of a three-year partnership with Asia Society- will feature panel discussions that include businessmen, philanthropists and educators.
The festival will open with a performance by singer-songwriter Zeb Bangash. It will be rounded off after daylong discussions among participants on Sunday evening, concluding with a Qawwali by an eight-member ensemble: the Saami Brothers.
Former finance minister Syed Babar Ali, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, artist Salima Hashmi, physicist and author Tasneem Zehra Husain, former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, actor, director and screen writer Sarmad Khoosat, journalist and foreign policy author Ahmed Rashid and author and filmmaker Sadia Shepard will also be present at the event.
Founded in 2012, LLFis a nonprofit initiative incorporated in Pakistan under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The Asia Society, foundedby John Rockefeller III in 1956, is a nonpartisan and nonprofit educational organisation that aims at fostering understanding and strengthening partnerships between Asian and American people and institutions.
