RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The ninth Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) will be held from Feb. 9 to Feb. 11, featuring talks, panel discussions, readings, book launches, an Urdu mushaira, satire, author signings, performing arts, film screenings, book fair, literary awards and a food court.

Ameena Saiyid, managing director of Oxford University Press and founder/director of the Karachi and Islamabad literature festivals, announced the dates in a press conference at the Karachi Arts Council.

Around 131 Pakistani and 30 international authors and speakers from nine countries will participate in the upcoming KLF. Around 19 book launches and more than 60 sessions are planned for the festival.

She gave an overview of the four prizes instituted by the KLF in collaboration with corporate entities and foreign missions. These annual prizes are awarded to books in the categories of fiction, non-fiction, peace, and Urdu.

The books are assessed by panels of juries comprising Pakistani academics, critics, and writers. This year the prizes include KLF-Pepsi Non-Fiction Prize, KLF-Getz Pharma Fiction Prize, KLF Peace Prize (Consulate General of Germany), and KLF-Infaq Foundation Urdu Literature Prize.

The KLF-Pepsi Non-Fiction Prize of Rs250,000 goes to the best non-fiction book originally written in English by a Pakistani or Pakistan-origin foreign national.

The books long listed for this prize include Lahore in the Time of the Raj by Ian Talbot and Tahir Kamran, How Pakistan Got Divided by Rao Farman Ali Khan, A History of the Judiciary by Hamid Khan, Urban Traditions and Historic Environments in Sindh by Anila Naeem, Imagining Pakistan by Rasul Bakhsh Rais, and Honour Unmasked by Nafisa Shah.

The KLF-Getz Pharma Fiction Prize goes to the best fiction written originally in English.

The author (a Pakistani or a Pakistani-origin foreign national) of the best novel or short story collection will be awarded Rs 300,000.

The long list of books announced for this prize includes The Golden Legend by Nadeem Aslam, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, The Party Worker by Omar Shahid Hamid, This House of Clay and Water by Faiqa Mansab, Daddy’s Boy by Shandana Minhas, Boy of Fire and Earth by Sami Shah, Snuffing Out the Moon by Osama Siddique, and Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie.