Overview
- The festival concluded with youth debates, wide-ranging author sessions and a closing keynote by Mohammed Hanif, followed by a qawwali by Hamza Akram Qawwal & Brothers.
- The opening observed silence for victims of the Gul Plaza incident and a recent Islamabad bomb attack, with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah inaugurating and Senator Sherry Rehman keynoting.
- Organised by Oxford University Press Pakistan and supported by the Government of Sindh, Getz Pharma and foreign cultural missions, the event drew over 200 speakers for dozens of sessions spanning book launches, a mushaira, Kathak and film screenings, plus discussions on fashion and artificial intelligence.
- A high-level economic panel featuring Privatisation Minister Muhammad Ali, Asad Umar, Miftah Ismail, Ishrat Husain and Azfar Ahsan urged structural reforms, export-led growth, a smaller state footprint, stronger local governments and policy continuity.
- The KLF–Getz Pharma Book Awards recognized Ferdowsnama by Shandana Minhas (English fiction), Aahang by Dilawar Ali Aazar (Urdu poetry) and Namak ki Betiyan by Naseer Soomro (Urdu prose).