Kolkata Literary Festival celebrates Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Renowned Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz joined the British army in the ’40s as a propaganda specialist, and was soon promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. At an officer’s gathering, a genteel British woman suggested he recite his poetry after dinner.

He refused, saying no one would understand it. Offended, she asked him why they wouldn’t understand. “Because I write in Urdu,” he replied. Horrified, she said, “But isn’t it just easier to write in English?”

It was anecdotes like these that Pakistan-based writer and artist, and Faiz’s daughter Salima Hashmi shared at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival last he was in prison, including some of the first pweek to celebrate Faiz’s centenary year. She read letters that her father wrote to her mother while oems he ever penned.

In one letter dated August 15, 1951, Faiz shared a poem he’d written in prison after being mildly depressed for a few days. “I’m happy today. I’m intoxicated by the power of what I’ve written...

Maybe I’ll be a poet after all,” he wrote.

Actor Naseeruddin Shah recited some of Faiz’s poetry, while sitarist and vocalist Ustad Shujaat Khan performed Faiz’s ghazals to an audience that lapped up each word, even though many had to wait for the English translation before they fully understood the meaning of the poems. 

Besides celebrating Faiz’s centenary, the festival also focused on French, German and Chinese literature. Other authors in attendance included the Chinese author Bi Feiyu, Bulgarian-German author Ilija Trojanow, and Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier, translators of Simone du Bouvoir’s book on feminism, The Second Sex. The highlight of the festival, though, was Mumbai-based author Kiran Nagarkar’s reading from his new book The Extras. The audience was taken by surprise once he started reading, modulating his voice to suit the characters’ moods.