The Indus Conclave — a thought-leadership forum — is taking place in Lahore over the weekend.
As the weather cools down, the event has already started with a bang on Friday with sessions on Day 2 of the conclave that are must-attends.
If you decide to come in early and stay late, they’ve got a session lined up for you for every hour you’re there. With food stalls and places to hang out at Alhamra Arts Council, where the event is taking place, you won’t need to leave.
Starting Day 2 with the session everyone has been waiting for:
11-12 pm: Crazy Young Asians will take place in Hall 1, the biggest hall at Alhamra for good reason. The panel includes Dur e Aziz Amna, the author of the highly acclaimed American Fever, which was her debut novel, and the recently-released A Splintering. Amna has been lauded for understanding the emotional mindset of Pakistanis stuck between two worlds and how her characters go through emotional rollercoasters to overcome them.
The second speaker for the session is French-Chinese-American writer, Aube Rey Lescure, whose book River East River West was shortlisted for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction. In her book, she tells the story of a bi-racial teen growing up in Shanghai with her American expat mother and Chinese stepfather. It’s a coming of age story that is funny and original and heartbreaking as well. The session is being moderated by Raza Goraya, who is the chief editor of Dunya Digital.
12:15-1:30 pm: Punching Down the Walls of the City: The Thrilla’ in Manila at 50 will feature Malaysian writer Eddin Khoo discussing the fight of the century in Hall 1. Keep your seat and don’t move as Khoo takes the stage with cultural commentator Fasi Zaka to commemorate the golden Jubilee of the fight that both boxing legend Muhammad Ali and Joe Fraiser described as ‘the closest thing to death’.
Take a break and hang out and eat till 2:30 pm when the next sessions begin.
2:30-3:30 pm: Future of Education in the Age of AI will be an introduction of artificial intelligence and how it has become unavoidable in our day to day lives. But how will it shape the way we learn, teach and research? This session in Hall 2, with Dr Moeed Yusuf, who is the vice chancellor of Beaconhouse National University; Annum Sadiq who is the co-founder of EdKasa; Dr Athar Usama of STEMx and Dr Hammad Naveed of the University of Central Punjab, will discuss how our world in education is set to change. The session will be introduced by Indus Conclave co-founder Khadija Amer.
4-5 pm: The last two years have made a lot of people feel that reporting in and from conflict and war zones has exposed biases, so much so that there seems to be an apparent shift from traditional media to new media. How do reporters feel about reporting bias-free on conflicts and is that even possible?
Join senior journalist Mubashar Zaidi, New Zealand journalist Thomas Mutch, who covers Ukraine; Sudan’s Yassmin Abdel-Magied and a reporter from the Middle East who was based in Palestine as well, Alex Shams, in conversation with Marium Chaudhry from The Current in Hall 3 as they navigate through the challenges of ‘Covering Conflict’.
6-7 pm: Ever wondered what it would be like to create platforms that encourage us and the people around us to collectively and creatively produce something with meaning? Former Bloomsbury chief editor and trustee of Bradford Literary Festival Alexandra Pringle, trustee of the Edinburgh Festival Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Nairobi Litfest & Co-Founder of Book Bunk Angela Wachuka and founder of the Sangam Residency DW Gibson will be in conversation with Mariam Tareen to discuss ‘Building New Institutions: Supporting Culture on the Outside’ in Hall 4.
If you have an idea on how to help support your culture (or other cultures) head on over.
Other notable sessions include the keynote by former finance minister Miftah Ismail on Pakistan’s governance challenges, with Jibran Nasir, and a closing keynote by chairman of the Punjab Group and former mayor of Lahore Mian Amer Mahmood, who will share his views on the way forward for devolving administrative powers in the country.
An open to the public round table on what is Pakistan’s way out of its growth trap will also be moderated by Haroon Sethi with Dr Faisal Bari, Dr Rabia Kamal and Sakib Sherani among others.
Check out the Indus Conclave website for more.