Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif declared the first Lahore Literary Festival open at a ceremony at Alhamra. The highlight of the ceremony was the life-time achievement award given to three shining lights of literature: Intizar Husain, Bapsi Sidhwa and Zehrah Nigah, who also recited her famous ever-relevant poem that yearns for some kind of order in the country.
The festival included panel discussions on Urdu and English literature and book reading. Ahmed Rashid, Ayesha Jalal, Bapsi Sidhwa, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Hameed Haroon, Jeet Thayil, Linda Bird Francke, Mohsin Hamid, Nayyar Ali Dada, Salima Hashmi, Tariq Ali and Tehmina Durrani spoke at the festival. Over 50 authors attended the two-day festival. Dawn