“Lahore literary festival – a safe place for dangerous ideas.” —The Guardian

“Rarely has an event framed around books and ideas felt so urgent.” —New York Review of Books

The Lahore Literary Festival (LLF), one of South Asia’s premier cultural events, returns to Asia Society New York, exploring contemporary Pakistan through artists, writers, and other experts. The festival will present American audiences with a more nuanced view of Pakistan, with discussions on fiction and nonfiction writing, art, architecture, history and politics. Speakers include Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Kamila Shamsie, Shahbaz Taseer, Marina Fareed, Qazi Shaukat Ahmed, Tahira Naqvi, Sadia Shepard.

Schedule

11 a.m.

Opening Remarks

Rachel Cooper,  Asia Society  

H.E. Masood Khan, Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States 

Razi Ahmed, Founder and CEO, Lahore Literary Festival 

11:15 a.m.—12:00 p.m.

Surviving the Taliban with Shahbaz Taseer

Author Shahbaz Taseer is the son of the late Salmaan Taseer, an ex-Governor of the Punjab who was assassinated in January 2011. Referred to by The Guardian as one of the most high-profile kidnappings in Pakistan, Shahbaz Taseer recounts the five years he spent in terrorist captivity. He will be in conversation with noted Pakistani journalist Wajahat S. Khan, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

12:15—1:00 p.m.

On Mughal India’s Great Poet Meer Taqi Meer (1722-1810) with Tahira Naqvi

Tahira Naqvi Tahira Naqvi is Clinical Professor of Urdu Language and Literature at NYU, and is a translator, writer and painter.  She has published translations of the works of Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai, Saadat Hasan Manto, Khadija Mastur and Hajra Masroor, among others.  She is the author of two collections of short stories, Attar of Roses and Other stories of Pakistan, and Dying in a Strange Country.  Her first novel, The History Teacher, will be published this year by Speaking Tiger Books.  A self-taught artist, she regards her work as memoir chapters. Naqvi will read passages by pioneering Urdu poet Meer Taqi Meer and discuss the mechanics of translating Urdu works into English. Mirza Ghalib once said this about Meer: “You are not the only master of Urdu, Ghalib. They say there used to be a Mir in the past.” In discussion with Wafa Asher. 

1:00 -2:00 p.m. Lunch Break

2:00—2:45 p.m.

Diplomacy, Food and Dawat with Marina Fareed and Qazi Shaukat Fareed 

Author Marina Fareed and diplomat Qazi Shaukat Fareed have entertained dignitaries, film directors, artists, writers and poets over the past forty years in their brownstone in Manhattan. With a foreword by James Ivory, Chittagong-born Marina has penned her memories of her years in Mexico, Spain, and New York where she has welcomed guests from across the world and created an atmosphere for informal dialogue over delicious food, good humor, and informal ambiance.  Asia Society’s Rachel Cooper unspools these memories to understand the importance a salon for diplomats, writers, and artists can be. 

3:00—3:45 p.m.  

Fiction: Best of Friends with Kamila Shamsie

Acclaimed Pakistani writer Kamila Shamsie is the author of eight books and the Spring 2023 Belknap Visiting Fellow in the Humanities Council and Department of English at Princeton University. Her latest novel, Best of Friends, tells the story of two women across three decades, two cities, and one fateful night. Shamsie will appear in conversation with the novelist Dur e Aziz Amna. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times, and Al Jazeera, among others.  She is a graduate of Yale College and the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan. Her debut novel, AMERICAN FEVER, won the 2023 APALA Award for Literature.

4:00—4:45 p.m.

A Cinematic Journey with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Award-winning director and journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is an Asia 21 Next Generation Fellow and Asia Game Changer Award honoree. Her cinematic achievements include Oscar-winning films Saving Face and A Girl in the River; Song of Lahore, Sitara: Let Girls Dream, and the 3 Bahadur franchise. She was the showrunner for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) TV series Ms. Marvel and first Pakistani filmmaker working in the MCU. In 2022, it was announced that Obaid-Chinoy will be the first woman of color to direct a film in the Star Wars franchise. This session will shed light on Chinoy’s illustrious career in film-making, her passion for imbuing the knowledge and craft of cinema among the youth in Pakistan, and her inspiring work in founding Citizen Archives of Pakistan (CAP) and the National History Museum in Lahore’s Greater Iqbal Park. In conversation with filmmaker and author Sadia Shepard.

4:45-5:00  Closing 

Held in conjunction with the Lahore Literary Festival.