Karachi:The two-day Karachi literary festival (March 20-21), under the joint aegis of the British Council and the Oxford University Press (Pakistan) is set to take off in a big way with a host of literary and cultural activities, featuring a galaxy of writers and authors, both foreigners and overseas-based Pakistanis, who have made a mark in literary activity on the international stage. The celebrations will also feature book launches.

This was announced at a Press preview addressed jointly by Mrs Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press (OUP); Mahshood Rizvi, Director, British Council (Sindh-Balochistan); and noted literary figure Dr Asif Aslam Farrukhi, at the OUP head office Wednesday evening.

Mrs Saiyid said that Pakistan had a tremendous store of talent in the field of literature and intellectual pursuits. She said that even though Pakistani authors had made a mark in the international arena, there still was a need to project this oozing talent worldwide. Among others, she quoted the names of Danyal Moinuddin and Mohsin Hamid who have won accolades worldwide for their publications. She said what particularly motivated the literary festivals was the ones held in Jaipur (India) and Sri Lanka.

Mahshood Rizvi, Director, British Council, said that there was no denying it that trade, commerce, and foreign affairs brought countries closer but stressed that cultural, intellectual, and social ties, had a far greater role to play n his regard. He expressed the resolve that in time to come the Karachi festival would become a bigger affair than the Jaipur one, but was quick to assert that this must not be taken in the light of the perennial, Pakistani-India rivalry but should be given a healthy connotation.

Dr Farrukhi said that given the highly cosmopolitan flavour of Karachi and a large concentration of the country’s intelligentsia, it was but natural that Karachi should have been chosen as a venue for this momentous event. He said the two-day programme would feature panel discussions on literary subjects and poetry recitation.

He said that Hamed Hussain, a UK-based Pakistani author would be one of the speakers, apart from Kishwar Naheed, and noted Urdu poet Shamsur Rehman Farooqi. Besides, he said, US-based Pakistani author Zulfiqar Ghose was also scheduled to speak at one of the sessions. Two books will also be launched on Sunday, March 21. The venue of the festivities is a local hotel. A dinner is to be hosted by the British Council in honour of the literati on Friday.The news