Razi Ahmed, the founder and President of the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF), has been awarded the Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) in recognition of his exceptional talent and contributions to the field of culture.
The prestigious honor, conferred upon Ahmed by the French Ministry of Culture, has previously been awarded to such luminaries as author T.S. Elliot; actor Meryl Streep; and musician David Bowie. The award is the French equivalent of Britain’s Knighthood.
In a statement, Ambassador of France to Pakistan Nicolas Galey has congratulated Ahmed on this well-deserved recognition.
Ahmed, who also serves as Director Associated Group [Full disclosure: The Associated Group is the parent company of AG Media] founded the LLF in 2013 as a nonprofit. The event has since become a mainstay of the international literary calendar and has been acclaimed by the foreign press, including, among others, The New York Times, BBC, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Time, The Guardian, and Al Jazeera.
The event has also showcased Pakistani authors and artists at annual spin-offs in New York, with Asia Society, and in London, with the British Library. LLF’s efforts over the years led UNESCO to designate Lahore as a City of Literature in 2019.