I started writing poetry when there was fear, says Fatima Bhutto

In times of trouble, children find their own ways to cope and come to terms with it. Fatima Bhutto who always loved the written word, sought poetry.

As a 14-year-old, she had hidden in a windowless room, shielding her little brother when there was shooting outside her home in Karachi. Her father Murtaza was murdered that day. It cost her dearly to be Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s granddaughter and niece of Benazir Bhutto, former prime ministers of Pakistan.

“I started writing poetry at a time when there was a lot of fear in the city that I lived in. Karachi was a city on fire in the early 1990s,” says Fatima.

“It was a time and place that was, as it is now in many similar ways, ruled by violence and by overwhelming fear. Poetry was a way of looking at it from a distance, all the while knowing how close it was. I suppose our way of expressing things that we'd rather hide shifts as we are constantly moving and adapting. Then it was poetry, now it’s prose.”

It would seem her poems, written years before she was even aware of the intense political atmosphere and tensions in the family, had sensed the tragedies that awaited her. Her first book of poems — Whispers of the Desert — was published when she was 15.

Fatima wrote again after observing the wreck caused by an earthquake in Pakistan’s northern areas in 2005 in 8.50 a.m. 8 October 2005.

She says, “As a writer you want to examine what moves you, what frightens you, what is most perplexing to you. I’m most attracted to a subject when I feel there's a disconnect between how the subject — whether it was the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, the war in Lebanon in 2006, or violence in Pakistan — is reported and how it is lived.”

Her third book, Songs of Blood and Sword tells the story of ‘four generations of a family defined by a political idealism that would destroy them’.

The 29-year-old writer who will be visiting Kerala to attend the Deccan Chronicle Kovalam Literary Festival 2011, loves quite a few Indian writers.

“I think some of the best writing at the moment is coming out of the subcontinent — out of India and Pakistan. As for Indian authors, Suketu Mehta, Aravind Adiga, Basharat Peer are all contemporary writers I admire and enjoy reading. Agha Shahid Ali is one of my favourite poets of all time and Naipaul and Rushdie are classics I keep returning to. It’s a hard list to narrow down!”

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/all-rounders/i-started-writing-poetry-when-there-was-fear-says-fatima-bhutto-630

Bhutto to be star attraction at Kovalam litfest

Fatima Bhutto, a Pakistani poet and granddaughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, will be the star attraction of the fourth Deccan Chronicle-Kovalam Literary Festival to be held at the Kanakakunnu Palace here on October 1 and 2.

Fatima will deliver the sixth annual K.C. John Memorial Lecture and will also read from her latest book ‘Songs of Blood and Sword,’ which narrates the trouble-torn history of the Bhutto family.

Apart from her, a heady mix of writers from India and outside is taking part in the festival which will be inaugurated by the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah.

“This is the first time Fatima is visiting Kerala,” said Binoo K. John, author and founder director of KLF. “We also have two major Israeli writers, Metti Lerner and Savyon Liebrecht, taking part in the festival.”

Further, noted writer David Davidar will read from his latest book ‘Ithacca’ and will interact with the audience.

Lovers of literature will also get to hear Anuradha Roy reading from ‘A Folded Earth,’ Ashwin Sanghi from ‘Chanakya’s Chant’ and Shehan Karunatileke from ‘Chinaman’.

Mohammed Hanif, the Pakistani writer who attracted much attention in the last instalment of the KLF, will present his latest work ‘Our lady of Alice Bhatti’ and Basharat Peer will draw the attention of the audience to the sorrows of Kashmir by reading from his ‘Curfew’d Night’.

Other writers slated to attend the festival are Kanika Dhill, poet Meena Kandasamy, Palash Mehrotra, and Suresh Menon.

Source:
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/kochi/bhutto-be-star-attraction-kovalam-litfest-059

'Poetry was a way of making sense of madness'

Blood, sword and suffering are the heartbeat of Fatima Bhutto's literary soul. And it was fear that propelled her poetry, says the heir to Pakistan's tragedy-scarred Bhutto family.

An accomplished poet, Fatima, 29, captures love, loss and the solitude of her circumstances in her verses.

"I have not written poetry for a very long time, but poetry like prose is ultimately a means of expressing what seems difficult otherwise," Fatima, who will be in India for the Kovalam Literary Festival from Oct 1-2, told in an email interview from Karachi.

"Kovalam will be my first visit to South India. And I'm looking forward to seeing more of the country and interacting with new audiences and opening bridges between our cities and stories."

She won't be reading out just from her poetry. Fatima has authored ' Whispers of the Desert' , an anthology of poetry, as well as ' 08.50 am ', an account of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, and 'Songs of Blood and Sword' , a searing document of the turbulence that had ripped her family apart on her native turf.

Born in 1982 in Kabul to Murtaza Bhutto, the son of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Fatima carries the illustrious and violent lineage on her young shoulders.

Her grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged to death in 1979. In 1996, Fatima's father Murtaza was gunned down in Karachi by the police during the tenure of 'aunt' Benazir Bhutto. Eleven years later, Benazir Bhutto met with a similar fate in Rawalpindi in 2007 when she was shot dead at a rally.

Fear propelled her to poetry, Fatima said.

"It (fear) was a strong emotion. I started writing during a very violent time in Karachi's history. And it was a way of trying to make sense of the madness around," Fatima said.

Poetry helped. She railed at the rage that tore through Pakistan in the 1990s and defined in words the affection she harboured for 'papa' Murtaza.

"To my darling papa, with all the love in the world...this is our story...," she penned in an ode to Murtaza Bhutto in the 'Whispers of the Desert'.

For Fatima, poetry still touches the subcontinent's young sensitivities despite the proliferation of prose.

"I don't think youngsters are shying away from poetry. Tishani Doshi is a fascinating poet from the subcontinent and is part of a young generation of writers who seem to be able to do both - poetry and prose," Fatima said.

But there is nothing wrong with a focus if there is one on story-telling, Fatima said.

"Remember that for hundreds of years during colonial rule we were not allowed to tell our own stories here in the subcontinent," the writer said.

Fatima is currently writing a book on Karachi. "I am still in very early pages at the moment," she said.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-09/books/30134379_1_fatima-bhutto-poetry-murtaza-bhutto

Fatima Bhutto attacks dynastic politics in Pakistan

The details can be viewed at the following link:

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/fatima-bhutto-attacks-dynastic-politics-in-pakistan-131231