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Lahore, 07 February: On the second day of the 14th Lahore Literary Festival, currently underway at the Lahore Arts Council Alhamra, a highly significant and intellectually profound session was held in collaboration with the Wimbledon Book Festival. The session, titled “The Private Life of Power: How Politics Affects Friendships, Memory, and Moral Choice,” offered a profound and thought-provoking exploration of the unseen personal and moral dimensions of politics and authority.

The session featured internationally acclaimed writer Kamila Shamsie, author of Best of Friends, in conversation with Jane Marriott, British High Commissioner to Pakistan. The discussion remained focused, analytical, and closely connected to contemporary political and social realities.

Expressing her views, Kamila Shamsie stated that reducing politics to power, policy, or state decisions ignores the broader and more lasting effects of authority. She emphasized that power profoundly influences human relationships, friendships, collective memory, and moral choices. According to her, individuals who move closer to power gradually reinterpret their past, decisions, and values to align with political demands.

The session also examined how authority compels individuals to create new moral justifications for their actions. Decisions
once considered unacceptable are often declared necessary or inevitable once one enters the sphere of power. As a result, truth and memory become distorted, while friendships and human relationships suffer visible fractures.

During the dialogue, it was highlighted that The Private Life of Power is not limited to criticism of politicians or a particular class. Instead, it serves as an intellectual reflection for anyone associated with authority, influence, or decision-making at any level. The discussion raised a critical question: if power were entrusted to us, would we truly remain unchanged, or would authority quietly transform us?
A large number of participants attended the session and showed keen interest during the question-and-answer segment. According to attendees, the discussion was intellectually engaging, highly relevant, and timely given current global and regional political developments.

The session reflected the Lahore Literary Festival’s vision of presenting literature not merely as creative expression but as a powerful tool for social awareness, ethical inquiry, and serious intellectual discourse. Through its ongoing sessions at Alhamra, the Lahore Literary Festival continues to strengthen traditions of knowledge, thought, and meaningful dialogue.

On the second day of the festival, the day began at 11:00 am with a sitar performance at the Alhamra Academy of Performing Arts. A session titled “Urdu Literature at a New Turn” featured Aurangzeb Niazi, Rehman Faris, Naveen Roma, and Sofia Baidar. Another session, “The Metaphor of Cultural Isolation,” focusing on revolutionary poetry in Saraiki, featured Raft Abbas, Rifat Baloch, and Rana Mehboob.

On the second day, an important session on “Debating Identities” was also held, featuring Robin Lane Fox, Kamila Shamsie, Irina Bokova, Saleema Ikram, and Alice Russell. A special session on Immersive Writing: New Ways of Observation was organized. Additionally, Andre Trschke delivered a lecture on India: Five Thousand Years of History, while Professor Mehboob Hussain, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Punjab University, also shared his views on South Asian history.

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