Sindh Literature Festival is an annual literary gathering organized by Sindh Literary Foundation. SLF celebrates the power of words, culture, music, and the teachings of peace and tolerance. The purpose is to highlight that Sindh boasts rich and vibrant cultures and traditions and gives a different flavor to the province. It aims to provide a venue for established and emerging writers to meet with their readers and engage with fans. Literary and cultural traditions of the province are being celebrated at the three-day event.
Along with live coverage, a variety of stories, reports, programs, and packages are also produced. A number of TV channels and newspapers publish news and columns. Different sessions including book launches and discussions on various topics, theater, music, and mushaira are also planned over the course of three days.
Mission
Sindh Literature Festival strive to promote and preserve the diverse languages, cultural assets, heritage, history, fine arts, music, education, archaeology, and anthropology of the region. Through book launches, discussions, theater, music, and mushaira sessions, SLF committed to encouraging and providing substantive space to female and young writers in our events, thus fostering a more inclusive literary community in Sindh.
Aims and Objectives
* To provide writers a platform to interact with each other and the general public, especially their readers and youth.
* To give an opportunity to writers of all kind, established, new and emerging to present and produce their writings and thoughts.
* To promote languages, cultural assets, heritage, history, fine arts, music, education, archaeology and anthropology etc.
* To introduce newly published books and works in different languages.
* To highlight the importance of books and literature in the contemporary age of new technologies.
* To encourage female and young writers and give them substantive space in events of the festival.
Organisers
Naseer Gopang and Zohaib Kaka are both journalists who are in charge of the festival. SLF was founded by Naseer Gopang and Zohaib Kaka is the festival advisor and managing director.
History, timeline
2016
The festival was first held in November 2016 at Beach Luxury Hotel Karachi. A number of prominent public figures have participated in the event including Sufi singers
Abida Parveen
Abida Parveen ( Urdu, sd, ; born 20 February 1954) is a Pakistani singer, composer and musician of Sufi music. She is also a painter and entrepreneur. Parveen is one of the highest paid singers in Pakistan. Her singing and music has earned ...
,
Saif Samejo
Saif Samejo (born 23 January 1984) is a musician and founder, lead vocalist and songwriter of the Pakistani Sufi folk band The Sketches. In May 2014 he opened the first music Aashram (School) in Hyderabad, Sindh named as "Lahooti Music Aashr ...
, Amb Jogi, journalists
Hamid Mir
Hamid Mir ( ur, حامد میر; born 23 July 1966) is a Pakistani journalist, columnist and writer. Born in Lahore to a journalistic family, Mir initially worked as a journalist with Pakistani newspapers. He has hosted the political talk show ' ...
,
Wusatullah Khan, politicians
Raza Rabbani,
Ayaz Latif Palijo,
Sassui Palijo
Sassui Palijo ( Sindhi: سسئي پليجو) is a politician and a columnist from Thatta, Sindh, Pakistan. Palijo is currently affiliated to Pakistan Peoples Party, served as a Senator on women's reserved seat from Sindh from 2015 to 2021. She ...
,
Aitzaz Ahsan
Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan ( ur, ; born 27 September 1945) is a Pakistani politician and lawyer. He served two times as the Leader of the House in the Senate of Pakistan from 1994 to 1997 and again from 2012 to 2015. He also served as the Leader o ...
, actresses
Sanam Baloch
Sanam Baloch Hisbani or Jatoi ( ur, , ) (born 14 July 1986) credited as Sanam Baloch is a Pakistani actress and television presenter. She has hosted various television shows such as; ''Sanam Small Room'' on KTN and the morning show on Samaa TV ...
,
Sabreen Hisbani
Sabreen Hisbani ( ur, ) is a Pakistani television actress. She worked in an airline company at Pakistan as airhostess and She also has worked in acclaimed drama serials including ''Kitni Girhain Baaki Hain'', ''Nikhar Gaye Gulab Sare'', '' Saat ...
and others.
2017
The second event was held in 2017 from 27–29 October at Beach Luxury Hotel Karachi. The event comprises a number of sessions that aim at highlighting the social issues of
Sindh,
Sindhi Culture
The Culture of Sindhi ( sd, سنڌ جي ثقافت) has its roots in the Indus Valley civilization. Sindh has been shaped by the largely desert region, the natural resources it had available, and continuous foreign influence. The Indus or Sind ...
, issues related with
Sindhi language
Sindhi ( ; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status. It is also spoken by a further 1.7 million people in India, where it is a scheduled language, withou ...
, developments in
Sindhi literature
Sindhi literature ( sd, سنڌي ادب), is the composition of oral and written scripts and texts in the Sindhi language in the form of prose: (romantic tales, and epic stores) and poetry: (Ghazal, Wai and Nazm). The Sindhi language of the provin ...
. Book stalls, handicraft stalls, ''
mushaira
''Mushaira'' ( ur, , Mušā'ira) is a poetic symposium. It is an event (called '' mehfil'', Mushairi) where poets gather to perform their works. A mushaira is part of the Culture of North India, Pakistan and the Deccan, particularly among the ...
'' sessions, and musical sessions of folk singers are also arranged during the event.
2019
For the third time festival was jointly organised by the Sindh Literary Foundation, information department of the Sindh government and the Endowment Fund Trust from 22–24 February 2019 at Beach Luxury Hotel Karachi as in previous events. This time festival had many sessions on culture, language, politics, sufism and literature.
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
's past was one of the main discussions of event.
2021
Annual gathering scheduled in March 2020 was canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, then it was scheduled from 12 to 14 March 2021 in
Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi.
2022
Fifth SLF held from 18-20 March 2022, under the theme ''Centennial Celebration of Mohen-jo-Daro'' in
Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi. The 5th Sindh Literature Festival (SLF) was organized from 18th to 20th March, 2022, at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi. This event was attributed to the “Mohenjo-Daro” of Sindh as the Centennial Celebration of the discovery of Mohenjo-Daro, an ancient archaeological site of immense historical significance in the world. For the occasion, a special theme song Mohenjo-Daro was prepared to sing the glory of this prehistoric city of Indus Civilization, written by renowned Sindhi poet Ali Akash, and composed by musician Saad Alavi. The opening ceremony of SLF started with this song, received well and cheered by the audience.
The main stage of the 5th Sindh Literature Festival was also designed to represent the importance of Mohenjo-Daro. In the 5th SLF, 28 sessions were conducted on various themes including a special session regarding the splendor “Mohenjo-Daro”, in which archaeologists from Pakistan and abroad participated; ten books were launched; and a “multilingual” Mushaira, a poetic sitting participated by poets of different languages of all provinces of Pakistan, was also part of the event. Besides that, two musical nights added the aroma of the festivity to the program. The festival was attended by a large number of people of all ages especially families and youth. The event was covered remarkably by print, electronic and social media. On the 1st day, an international session was held.
2023
Naseer Gopang and Zohaib Kaka, the Managing Director of SLF, announced the saving dates for the 6th Sindh Literature Festival on social media. It is scheduled to take place on March 3, 4, and 5, 2023. 6th SLF is focusing on the topic of "Aalam Sabh Abaad Kareen" in order to raise public awareness about global warming and climate change. The Festival will be included sessions, music, arts, and other festivities.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official WebsiteSindh Literature Festival Journey Of Sindhi LanguageActivism through discourse Zafar Ahmed Khan, The News InternationalMarch 27, 2022
Sindhi culture
Sindhi festivals
Events in Sindh
Festivals in Sindh
Literary festivals in Pakistan