Lahore Literary Festival | Wimbledon BookFest

Wimbledon BookFest are delighted to be celebrating our third year in partnership with the prestigious Lahore Literary Festival to bring a strand of events celebrating South Asian voices to our Autumn Festival.

Since 2023, we have welcomed leading speakers including broadcaster Mishal Husain, author Mohsin Hamid and activist and daughter of the legendary poet Faiz, Salima Hashmi.

Lahore Literary Festival 2026

“Words can bring us together… to come to this literature festival in Lahore and see it is linked with Wimbledon, suddenly I feel all hearts are joined.” – Lyse Doucet, BBC Global Correspondent

We were delighted to work in partnership with the Lahore Literary Festival to co-present a series of international book launches and events:

Lyse Doucet (The Finest Hotel in Kabul book launch)
Aisha Hassan (When the Fireflies Dance book launch)
Ziauddin Sardar (Three Begums book launch)
Jane Marriott in conversation with Kamila Shamsie

Autumn Festival 2025

Designed to connect communities and spark conversation, this year’s programme featured some remarkable voices in fiction, art and activism.

Speakers included broadcaster and debut novelist Reeta Chakrabarti and trailblazing artist, writer, activist and daughter of renowned Pakistani poet Faiz, Salima Hashmi. Actor Jassa Ahluwalia discussed mixed heritage identity, while writer and filmmaker Saba Karim Khan explored home and belonging.

Women’s Prize-shortlisted Nussaibah Younis discussed her debut novel, while Aisha Hassan and Keshava Guha shared stories from Pakistan and India. Wimbledon-based author Fiza Saeed McLynn introduced her highly acclaimed debut set in Jazz Age Paris, The Midnight Carousel. 2025 International Booker Winner for Heart Lamp Deepa Bhasthi discusses the transformative power and complex art of literary translation.

About the partnership

Festival Director Fiona Razvi drew on her own heritage to forge unique links between BookFest and the prestigious Lahore Literary Festival, which takes place annually in the Punjab, Pakistan.

‘Working with the Lahore Literary Festival is an exciting new stage in BookFest’s commitment to sharing stories and building connections across borders. The LLF is one of South Asia’s premier cultural events and we are thrilled to be working alongside them to celebrate and amplify the voices of South Asian heritage.’

Razi Ahmed, Founder and CEO of the Lahore Literary Festival said:

‘We are delighted to be partnering with the Wimbledon Book Festival to connect our two wonderful festivals that aim for more diversity, inclusivity and foregrounding big ideas. Together with Fiona Razvi and her team, we will work during the coming years on a more culturally integrated and interconnected series bringing Asia and Britain closer.’

Lahore Literary Festival Gallery

Previous Years

2025

Designed to connect communities and spark conversation, this year’s programme featured some remarkable voices in fiction, art and activism.

Speakers included broadcaster and debut novelist Reeta Chakrabarti and trailblazing artist, writer, activist and daughter of renowned Pakistani poet Faiz, Salima Hashmi. Actor Jassa Ahluwalia discussed mixed heritage identity, while writer and film maker Saba Karim Khan explored home and belonging, the subject of her anthology ‘Home: It’s Complicated.’

Women’s Prize shortlisted author Nussaibah Younis discussed her debut novel, while Aisha Hassan and Keshava Guha shared stories from Pakistan and India, and Wimbledon-based author Fiza Saeed McLynn introduces her highly acclaimed debut set in Jazz Age Paris, The Midnight Carousel. 2025 International Booker Winner for Heart Lamp Deepa Bhasthi discusses the transformative power and complex art of literary translation.

2024

2024’s strand at BookFest included memoir, fiction, comedy, current affairs and performance.

Acclaimed BBC broadcaster Mishal Husain delved into her own fascinating family history, and uncovered the story of her grandparents’ lives amidst empire, political upheaval and Partition and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi unpacked the recent rise in Islamophobia in Britain following her unapologetic and passionately written book, Muslims Don’t Matter. Untold Narratives is a development programme for writers marginalised by community or conflict, including a women’s writing group who lived through the fall of Kabul in 2021. Some of the writers and translators of My Dear Kabul came together to discuss stories of Afghanistan from the front line.

Aliya Ali-Afzal discussed her latest book, The Big Day whilst Saima Mir, award-winning journalist and writer, discussed the second book in her bestselling crime fiction series. Actress, writer and co-founder of the Tamasha Theatre Company, Sudha Bhuchar, brought her one-woman show, Evening Conversations, home to Wimbledon for a gentle, humorous and truthful performance.

2023

2023 was the first year of our partnership with Lahore Literary Festival, and we celebrated South Asian history, culture and identity across fiction and non-fiction.

Aasmah Mir and Osman Yousefzada in conversation with Kavita Puri

Booker Prize-shortlisted writer Mohsin Hamid, author of the critically acclaimed The Last White Man, joined BookFest from Pakistan for a live streamed event discussing the novel. The Last White Man was selected as the inaugural Merton Big Read with 500 free copies of the book distributed to residents across the borough.

New Generation Thinker and British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding nominee Nandini Das discussed her ground-breaking history of British colonialism in India and author and Middle-Eastern specialist Diana Darke traced the Islamic and Arab roots of Europe’s architectural heritage, whilst broadcaster Aasmah Mir and designer Osman Yousefzada came together to discuss the joys and challenges of growing up between British and Pakistani cultures.