#Adab2019 Saturday 2 Feb: Who's Afraid of Umera Ahmed

WHO'S AFRAID OF UMERA AHMAD? “Literature...and the people related to it have done us a great service by expelling us from their ranks. We have become closer to the common people...if it is true that literature has been proven the guiding torch during..difficult times of a nation’s history, then in 21st-century Pakistan, this role will be realized by the works of “popular fiction writers,” not by those of elite artists (adīb).” Umera Ahmad. “Introduction,” Mein nē Khvābōñ Kā Shajar Dēkhā (Lahore: Ilm-o Irfan Publishers, 2016), 9. The bestselling and most influential novels written post-9/11 are by popular writers such as Ahmad, Farhat Ishtiaq, Bushra Rehman, Hashim Nadeem, and Nimra Ahmad. This LUMS student-led panel ( Hammad Abdullah Nazar, Mahnoor Nadeem, and Muhammad Umar Habib ) will contemplate on what this means for Pakistani readers and consumers of fiction, the possible dangers that these novels engender, and the condition of Pakistani literature.Moderator: Dr Maryam Wasif Khan. Adab Festival Pakistan Saturday 2 February 2019 Sindh Governor's House Careem Pavilion