The Revivalists & the Lovers~ Creating LLF ~ Lahore 1st Literary Festival now in its 8th Year (2013-2020)

The Lahore Literary Festival, LLF has put our sheher, Lahore Sahiba on the literary map of the world. It has traveled successfully to London and New York. However, it is at its most authentic and magical in the hometown of its birth, Lahore, when she is, at her most Basanti beautiful, in Spring February. 

According to its founders, “Historically, Lahore has been city of ideas and cultural exchange. Eight years ago the LLF started, among Lahore’s first, in the revival of festivals. After Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, a deep fear started enveloping our collective psyche, festivals like Basant were being banned, and Lahore’s rich and varied creative expressions were not being celebrated at home but abroad made for an urgent case for Lahore to have a platform, a public space, for the triumph of ideas over fear and curtailing freedoms.” 

Through successive governments the LLF has managed to endure and grow. It brings together the finest writers, poets personalities and celebrities from across the country, South Asia and the world, in a unique curation of the art of writing, conversation, recitation, aesthetics, presentation, photography, music and creativity.

The majestic red brick Alhamra Complex on Mall road is the perfect venue with its host of public halls, galleries, outdoor spaces, courtyard gardens.  The high angular roofs, the light and shadows and the spaces are designed by Nayyar Ali Dada, the Geoffrey Bawa of Pakistan. It is a testament to contemporary, timeless architecture that can evolve look distinct in every event. 

It is also a safe space to host the event. Situated in the heart of Lahore, on its central artery, the busiest and most beautiful Mall Road connecting the Androon Sheher (the Old city) with contemporary Lahore. 

With the Avari and Flatties Hotels next doors, the Allama Iqbal Complex, the Lahore Zoo, the Bagh-e-Jinnah and Governor house on one side and past the Punjab Assembly, GPO, Lahore High Courts, to the NCA, Lahore Museum,Tollinton Market Gallery, Data Dardar, Food Street with Cuckoos and Andaaz Restaurants facing The Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque and the Minar-e-Pakistan triangle. It is a historic route with age old trees, flowers beds, markets , colonial buildings, lamps and foot paths that makes our city in par with European cities, like Paris. 

The LLF is “a civil society initiative which stands for intellectual stimulation and honoring Lahore’s rich literary and cultural traditions.” The organizers plan each year’s edition a year in advance. It  requires, in many instances, “a lot of persuasion, without offering any honorarium (which is a norm in many foreign festivals), for our first-time delegates to travel to Pakistan. “ 

The team meticulously coordinates with the delegates to show them, “ a multifaceted sense of the city—Lahore—where it’s surely pivoted around the LLF but also encompasses an experience of the city’s streets, architecture, food, museums and private homes.” 

The team faces tremendous challenges in finalizing the schedule and program as, 

“In spite of confirmations, sometimes, the high-wattage names cancel or defer their plans for various reasons. There is, in that sense, a great deal of uncertainty and added to that working with official functionaries on security. This year we had to close each day of the three-day festival at 5 pm owing to the PSL Cricket matches in the city which coincided with the LLF, starting at 7 pm.”

For the LLF team, “till the delegates are actually in town, we are on the tenterhooks. Once the delegates are in town, we have an excellent team of dedicated LLF volunteers who take care of them to make their experience at the festival, and in the city, stimulating and rewarding. For instance, we took turns with Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk to soak in the wonderful sights of Mughal and colonial Lahore and also see all the rough and tumble of its streets along with the rich exhibitions on display at the ongoing Lahore Biennale.”

The LLF is the brain child of the Ahmad Brothers and a host of powerhouses Baras like “Nuscie” Nusrat Jamil and Ahmed Rashid, a remarkable team and a dedicated group of beautiful volunteers. 

All three Ahmad brothers are brilliant in their respective lines of work that combine  their love of Lahore, her cultural revivalism, preservation and aesthetic presentation. Attiq-ud-din Ahmad, the eldest is an architect and interior designer that combines the contemporary with the indigenous. His award winning design firm, Turning Tables’s has often been featured in the stage design of LLF. Fasih-ud-din is a brilliant writer, an editor who heads the esteemed Newsweek group of Pakistan. While Razi-ud-din, the youngest has come into his own strength as a literary force, hosting, organizing and creating the LLF event and team. 

I have known the Ahmad boys since I was a young teen. I have wonderful memories of long drives with Attiq listening to “Saturday Night” and looking at Lahori architecture, gardens and forgotten monuments. Of reading Fasi’s Friday Times, intelligently witty articles and watching Razi grow up to be a Lahori and a young brother we are proud of. Like my own three, a set of creative sisters, Maheen an architect and interior designer, me a writer, poetess and creative malang and our youngest Shuzray a film maker and an artist. Lahore’s children are all a beautiful tapestry of creative arts. Together we have all been a lovers of Lahore no matter where we live, we miss and honor her with sincerity, strength and gratitude. 

Funnily our dads were childhood friends. Iqbal and Kausar! My dad remembers his first drive in a car with him! The first TV they watched together. And even though they lost touch over the years . The children discovered and became friends on their own. I will never forget the Ahmad household as a heady mix of art, architecture, grand design and hospitality. Listening to the late Nusrat Fateh Ali in their beautiful garden. Attending birthdays, weddings, parties done tastefully and in the majestic Lahori style. 

The Festival is a true tribute of love of Lahore, her history and present. It combines all the strengths of the brothers and their team. “LLF is a labour of love. We have hosted wonderful delegates from all over the world, over the past eight years, who have been fascinated by the city including Ben Okri, Teju Cole, Sinan Antoon, Ahdaf Soueif, Anissa Helou and more. Most of them when they see the non-corporatised ethos of the festival, as a civil-society initiative, are taken in by the idea and throw their weight behind it including those who are well-familiar with Pakistan but hadn’t travelled here in years, due to the dire perceptions of the country in the international press, such as Romila Thapar and Michael Palin.”

“While all our delegates are special and we roll out the red carpet for them, I personally enjoyed hosting Romila Thapar the most as I see a shared  South Asian connection to understand the historical truths which were manipulated by the colonial powers. Her memory and knowledge of Lahore, while we drove together to sites such as Bradlaugh Hall and Maryam Zamani Masjid, have contributed to my growth as a person.”

“We have over the eight years of LLF honoured the great Pakistani writers and poets, including, among others, Intizar Hussain, Bapsi Sidhwa, Abdullah Hussein, Zehra Nigah, Amjad Islam Amjad and Asghar Nadeem Syed.”

All festivals must evolve and grow every year as they are a collective of Lahore and all its citizens and guests across age, class and interests. Some pyar wali suggestions from us all include introducing a space for children and families for reading, book launches, writing letters to Lahore and word art. The Children’s Literature Festival, CLF and Little Art can help in making this happen.

Inclusiveness of all languages that represent Pakistan. It will be an extensive localization but we are a proud Pakistani nation. While we appreciate the sessions this year like the Pashto Mushaira and Punjabi sessions. We want more and access and exposure across all ages and segments. 

Us Lahori Paitoos love to eat and share. The sold out Suli’s Pizza with a cool menu honoring the writers and season was a testament to that! But we want more desi and street food!  Garam garam Samosas, pakoras, jalabiees, Dhai Bhallas, fruit chaat, gol gupp’as, fresh juices, Karak chai, Kashmiri chai, Peshawari Kava, thootties, Gulab Jaman, Barfi and pan! This could be a dangerously endless foodie list :)

The manjees with indigenous darries and gow tukyas and mooras, floor baithaks combining crafts to create a festival of bright colourful and patterns in abundance that is so Lahore! 

A stage design that is more theatrical and shows typical spaces and haunts of Lahore commissioned to artists and local artisans. Functional and comfortable seating, tables, sofas, chairs, dewaans and cushions. Lahore is all about warmth, love of colour, textiles, plants, comfort.

I and many others are willing to offer our services for free to help in anyway as creative resource! The collective of lahore is full of rich patrons of strength, aesthetic and substance. A spirit of inclusiveness will only make the LLF experience more authentic and diverse. 

As a last request i asking for a donation for the Al Hamra sound systems and Air purifying units, mist fans, plants and creative truck art dustbins!

For me this year’s highlight was listening to the very brilliant Nobel Prize Winner for Literature 2006 Orhan Pamuk's witty and authentic conversation and his insight into his ten book career, his unique Turkish Identity, European Cultural ideals, provincialism and his visual writing approach as a teacher at Columbia University. How i would love to be a part of that class! I was dying to meet the man but alas it didn't happen! 

So instead I spent time sharing a dewan with strangers who delightfully turned out to be a  gorgeous Punjabi poet, writer and teacher talking about Rumi, on a sunny beautiful spring day. Nothing in life is a coincidence as i smiled inwards, an unknown poetess and writer myself. Unpublished but doing it. As my new, beautiful friend shared her poem on Basant... her slow parwan ~ the flight with twists and turns i know one day we will soar together on a stage!