LAHORE: The third and final day of the 14th Lahore Literary Festival concluded on Sunday at the Lahore Arts Council Alhamra, reaffirming the festival’s stature as a premier global platform for literature, ideas, and cultural dialogue.
The final day began at 12:00 noon in Alhamra Hall No 1 with an exclusive book launch and talk titled “The Hour of the Wolf: What It Means to Survive History and to Write Honestly from Its Shadows,” featuring renowned author and activist Fatima Bhutto.
The session set a reflective and powerful tone for the day, addressing history, memory, survival, and the ethical responsibility of writers.
Throughout the day, multiple parallel sessions were held across Alhamra’s halls, engaging audiences in serious discussions on women’s rights, law, dissent, cultural heritage, translation, history, fiction, biography, and global power structures. A significant session titled “Rights on Trial: Women, Law, and the Price of Dissent” examined the challenges faced by women within legal and political systems, featuring representatives from the Women’s Action Forum, advocate Asma Hamid, and Reema Omer of the International Commission of Jurists, with moderation by barrister Rida Hosain.
Hall One hosted a wide range of intellectually rich discussions, including “Perin’s Passion,” celebrating the life and contributions of Professor Perin Cooper Boga, “Ghosts of the Empire,” examining the legacy of the British Empire, and “Art Everlasting,” where leading global voices including Deepa Mehta, Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie, and Geoff Dyer reflected on the enduring relevance of art in uncertain times.
Sessions across other halls explored diverse themes such as “The Case for Gender Apartheid,” “Story of Dhaka Muslin,” “Madinat al Zahra: The Radiant Capital of Islamic Spain,” and “Protecting the Past,” which highlighted people-led resistance to the destruction of cultural heritage. Book launches, including Shattered Lands, Stalemate, 32, Onkar Road, and discussions on South Asian history, translation, and global fiction further enriched the festival’s final day.
A special session was held on the poetry and thought of Jon Elia titled “Jon Elia’s Poetry: A Grounded and Uncompromising Thought.”
The session examined Jon Elia’s work not merely as an expression of personal sorrow but as a living, questioning intellectual tradition deeply engaged with society. Renowned critic and writer Nasir Abbas Nayyar, distinguished poet Fatima Hassan, and Shaista Hassan participated as panelists, while the session was moderated by noted writer Sughra Sadaf.
Nasir Abbas Nayyar observed that Jon Elia’s poetry does not rely on complex philosophical frameworks but rather represents a direct, unambiguous intellectual process that challenges social stagnation, intellectual hypocrisy, and accepted truths. Fatima Hassan stated that Jon Elia’s expression of pain is not romanticized grief but an honest portrayal of human relationships, social behaviour, and inner realities, which gives his poetry global relevance.
Shaista Hassan emphasised that Jon Elia’s thought connects past and present social experiences and transcends time and geography, continuing to engage contemporary readers with the same intensity. Moderator Sughra Sadaf guided the discussion within a broad intellectual framework, highlighting how Jon Elia’s poetry urges readers to remain grounded, confront social realities, and move beyond self-deception. A well-attended question and answer session further deepened the discussion on the poet’s social implications, intellectual contradictions, and contemporary significance.
The third day also featured sessions on “The Art of Translation,” “From Partition to Pioneer,” “Spice, Sizzle, Storytelling,” “Fiction’s Pull,” and “Debating Identities,” bringing together historians, authors, architects, diplomats, and scholars from Pakistan and across the world.
Lahore has repeatedly proven itself a city of literature, where ideas, language, and cultural memory have flourished across generations. Its rich intellectual heritage continues to find powerful expression at the Lahore Arts Council Alhamra, now firmly established as a central hub of literature, arts, and cultural dialogue. The Lahore Literary Festival once again affirms this legacy by uniting global voices in meaningful exchange, reinforcing Lahore’s enduring identity as a city where literature shapes thought, culture, and society.
The successful conclusion of the 14th Lahore Literary Festival once again highlighted Lahore’s central role in global intellectual and literary discourse. Through its diverse, inclusive, and thought-provoking programming, the festival continued to strengthen the tradition of dialogue, critical inquiry, and cultural exchange, reinforcing literature as a vital force for social awareness and collective reflection.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026