LONDON: The first edition of the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) in London was inaugurated by the Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK, Syed Ibne Abbas, at the British Museum`s BP Lecture Theatre on Saturday.

Razi Ahmed, LLF`s founder and CEO, along with his team put together an impressive show featuring some of the finest writers and opinion-makers from Britain, Pakistan, Turkey and other countries, according to a press release.

It was a well-attended fullday event that attracted a large number of writers, poets, artists, think-tank notables and students.

In his opening remarks, Mr Äbbas said: `The Lahore Literary Festival is an excellent initiative of Razi Ahmed and his team.` He added that this was a way forward to `build bridges between our countries` Next year, the high commissioner said, Pakistan will be celebrating 70 years of independence as well as `establishment of Pakistan and UK`s diplomatic relations`.

He added that the high commission in London had planned a series of events the first of which will kickstart with their participation in the New Year`s Day Parade in London.

The literary festival featured a wide range of topics including literature, politics,literarylegacy of Lahore, Kashmir: reportage, politics and fiction, transforming education in Pakistan, pop culture and readings of poetry and prose.

Speakers included veteran actor Zia Mohyeddin, author of 40 Rules of Love Elif Shafak, journalist Razia Iqbal, journalist and historian Andrew Whitehead, Farooq Bajwa, novelist Mirza Waheed, writer Alex von Tunzelmann, biographer and journalist Andrew Lycett, F.S. Aijazuddin, artist Faiza Butt, Dr Amin Jaffer, Seema Aziz, journalist Peter Oborne, Dr Robin Niblett, former federal minister Hina Rabbani Khar, journalist David Loyn, journalist Lyse Doucet, artist Naiza Khan, actor Sarmad Khoosat, Fifi Haroon, writer and culture critic Ziauddin Sardar, writer Nesrine Malik, short story writer Aamer Hussein, Ahsan Akbar, British poet Ruth Padel and Ananya Jahanara Kabir.