Things She Could Never Have by Tehmina Khan

Muneeza Shamsie and Maniza Naqvi, two very prominent names of Pakistani literature in English, spoke to Osama Siddique about his novel Snuffing out the Moon. HM Naqvi was in session with Marvi Mazhar about his new book The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack. Noman ul Haq discussed Peerzada Salman’s collection of Urdu poetry Waqt. Sarwat Gilani, Fahad Mirza and Shafat Ali in conversation with journalist-turned-author Maheen Usmani.Īs per tradition, there were many book launches and book signings in the Adab Festival. He also said that out of all of the characters in the book he feels the 'closest to the Kachhwa', a confession that ensued a burst of laughter among the audience. I leave it to the readers,' replied Raza. I wouldn’t like to explain the myths of these four Iqbal characters.

That’s why I have four characters with the same name. 'A novel has to communicate at various levels. Hanif asked Raza the reason for having four Iqbals in his novel and if there was a particular message in it for people. The conversation turned out to be insightful, covering not just the novel but society itself. I opted for Hanif-Raza’s and was glad I did. For instance, Mohammed Hanif in conversation with Syed Kashif Raza, the author of Chaar Dervesh Aur Ek Kachhwa clashed with Shazaf Fatima Haider, writer of A Firefly in the Dark, in conversation with Afia Salam posed a dilemma. Like always, some very interesting sessions were overlapping with each other. They all sounded too boring for my taste. There were two sessions on education and many others on globalisation and Pakistan, feminism, socio-economic development under CPEC, national language pedagogy and its challenges and others. I had planned on attending only those sessions that interested me. It is for the organisers to see if it was because of the choice of venue or the festival was not advertised enough. But the attendance was thinner than expected. As the festival began, the lawns bathed in soft sunshine and a pleasant breeze were impressively laid out with four ivory marquees for the sessions, with complimenting relaxing lounges, books stalls and a central area for food.

There was a heated discussion too on social media on choosing the Governor’s House as a venue for a literature festival. Karachi welcomes spring with literature festivals.

Things She Could Never Have by Tehmina Khan