KARACHI: The Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) is back for its 17th edition from 6–8 February 2026 at the Beach Luxury Hotel, reaffirming its position as Pakistan’s largest and most influential literary gathering. Free and open to the public, KLF 2026 brings together ideas, imagination, and dialogue at a time when literature’s role in shaping empathy and resilience has never been more urgent.
Organised by Oxford University Press Pakistan, this year’s festival is built around the theme “Literature in a Fragile World”, examining how stories, poetry, and critical thought respond to social, political, and cultural uncertainty and change.
Reflecting on the festival’s purpose, Arshad Saeed Husain, Managing Director, Oxford University Press Pakistan, said: “In an increasingly fractured world, literature remains one of the last spaces where dogmas can be questioned, and humanity can speak to itself without fear.”
This year the festival will host over 200 delegates from 8 countries, featuring more than 90 sessions, 28 book launches in three languages, two documentaries, and two feature films. Keynote speakers include Senator Sherry Rehman, Mohammed Hanif, Nasir Abbas Nayyar, and Khurshid Rizvi, alongside a distinguished lineup of writers, poets, critics, and thinkers from Pakistan and abroad.
The 17th KLF brings together a diverse gathering of writers, thinkers, and literature enthusiasts, featuring Sharmeen Obaid‑Chinoy—the first female director to win two Academy Awards, creator of over two dozen acclaimed films across 16 countries, and now director of New Jedi Order, her upcoming Ms. Marvel feature. Joining her among this year’s international speakers are Professor Richard Susskind CBE KC (Hon), one of the world’s leading thinkers on law and the impact of artificial intelligence and author of How to Think about AI: A Guide for the Perplexed; Scottish historian and filmmaker Sam Dalrymple, bestselling author of Shattered Lands; and novelist Laline Paull, whose critically acclaimed works The Bees, The Ice, and Pod have all been shortlisted for major literary prizes.
New features this year include The Great KLF Debate, Sindhi Mushairo, and an inter-school debate reinforcing the festival’s commitment to youth engagement, linguistic diversity, and civic dialogue. The programme also includes dramatic renditions, classical music performances, theatre, rap, and qawwali, woven seamlessly into literary discourse.
Marking major literary and national milestones, the festival features a special session celebrating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, including the screening of Jinnah introduced by filmmaker Jamil Dehlavi, as well as a panel exploring Allama Iqbal’s thought, poetry, and continuing relevance. A session celebrating the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth is also a part of the programme.
Younger audiences remain central to KLF’s vision, with the Youth Pavilion offering storytelling, theatre, and hands-on workshops. The festival will also announce the winners of the 2026 KLF–Getz Pharma Book Prizes, recognising outstanding works in English fiction, Urdu prose, and poetry.
With its bold programming and wide public reach, the Karachi Literature Festival once again transforms the city into a vibrant crossroads of ideas — where literature speaks urgently to the present while imagining more thoughtful futures.
