ISLAMABAD: The second day of the Islamabad Literature Festival (ILF) was again a lively affair that attracted literature and culture enthusiasts from near and far.
There was a discussion on ‘Iftikhar Arif: Life and Work’ moderated byHameed Shahid. The participants included Anna Suvorova, Harris Khalique, Vafa Yazdan Manesh and Iftikhar Arif.
Other sessions included a discussion on the book ‘Teen Saltanaton ki Daastan,’ which is a translation of a historical Chinese novel. The translation has been done by Zahoor Ahmed. Participants in the discussion were Zahoor Ahmed and the Zhang HeqingYao Jing, Chinese Cultural Counselor (teen saltanaton ki dastan) while the moderator was Sharif Awan. Another session was a conversation with Soniah Kamal, author of ‘Unmarriageable – A Novel on Pride and Prejudice in Pakistan.’ The moderator was Sana Munir.
Book launches at the Islamabad Literature Festival included that of ‘Phat’tay Aamonka Case’ which is an Urdu translation of the book ‘A Case of Exploding Mangoes’ by Mohammed Hanif. Mohammed Hanif, Syed Kashif Raza, and Hoori Noorani discussed the book while Nazish Brohi served as the moderator.
Another book launch was that of ‘Prison Interlude: The Last Eyewitness Account of the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case’ written by Zafar UllahPoshni. Nafisa Shah, Zahid Hussain, Raza Rabbani, Moneeza Hashmi and Zafar UllahPoshni took part in the discussion which was moderated by OwaisTohid.
There were many more stimulating sessions on the second day of the Islamabad Literature Festival including a discussion on the topic of ‘Taraqqi Pasand Tehrik’. Iftikhar Arif, Ravish Nadeem and Imdad Aakash participated in the discussion with Salahuddin Derwesh as the moderator.
Another interesting session was on ‘Striking Peace in a Nuclear Charged Environment’. Air Commodore R. Khalid Banuri, Naeem Salik and Pervez Hoodbhoy participated in the discussion while Ejaz Haider served as the moderator. A conversation with H.M. Naqvi, the author of ‘The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack’, was moderated by George Fulton.
A discussion in the memory of the playwright Enver Sajjad titled ‘Bayad-e-Dr. Enver Sajjad’ also took place. The participants in the discussion were Haseena Moin, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Kishwar Naheed and Ghazanfar Hashmi. Irfan Ahmed Urfi moderated the session.
A discussion with Haroon Khalid Akhtar, the author of ‘The Melody of a Tear,’ also took place. Another interesting session was on ‘Education in the New Millennium: Promises and Perils’. Arshad Saeed Husain, RasulBakshRais and Faisal Mushtaq were the participants while Shahid Siddiqui was the moderator.
INP
