ISLAMABAD: Nearly 120 writers, journalists and artists will descend on the city this weekend as the Islamabad Literature Festival (ILF) returns to Islamabad for its second edition today (Friday).

The festival will kick off at 5pm at the Margala Hotel on Kashmir Highway. The opening ceremony will be followed by a dance performance by Sheema Kermani and Dastangoi by Danish Husain and Darain Shahidi from India and Fawad Khan and Nazrul Hasan from NAPA.

The proceedings on Saturday will include a session with novelists Mirza Athar Baig and Mustansar Hussain Tarar; a conversation with Shobhaa De; a discussion ‘Afghanistan: The Next Chapter’; ‘Poetry from a Troubled Land: Pashto Poetry with Translations’; ‘Shayer e Awam: Habib Jalib’; and a session on Poetic Voices from Gilgit-Baltistan. The day will end with a poetry recital or mushaira.

Talks on Popular Cinema, Manto, Ghalib and a candid session with Najam Sethi will be the highlights of the final day. A team from NAPA will also stage the classic play Taleem-e-Balighan.