Back to News

Fatima Bhutto

The Drum in association with Birmingham Book Festival present

Fatima Bhutto
In Conversation with Rajwinder Pal

Award- winning journalist Fatima Bhutto makes her only Midlands appearance to speak about her new book Songs of Blood and Sword, a book of international significance by a young woman who has already established herself as a brave and passionate campaigner.

In September 1996, a fourteen-year-old Fatima Bhutto hid in a windowless dressing room, shielding her baby brother while shots rang out in the streets outside the family home in Karachi. This was the evening that her father Murtaza was murdered, along with six of his associates. In December 2007, Benazir Bhutto, Fatima’s aunt, and the woman she had publically accused of ordering her father’s murder, was assassinated in Rawalpindi.It was the latest in a long line of tragedies for one of the world’s best known political dynasties.

Songs of Blood and Sword tells the story of a family of rich feudal landlords – the proud descendents of a warrior caste – who became powerbrokers in the newly created state of Pakistan. It is an epic tale full of the romance and legend of feudal life, the glamour and licence of the international political elite and ultimately, the tragedy of four generations of a family defined by a political idealism that would destroy them.

The history of this extraordinary family mirrors the tumultuous events of Pakistan itself, and the quest to find the truth behind her father’s murder has led Fatima to the heart of her country’s volatile political establishment.It is the history of a nation from Partition through the struggle with India over Kashmir, the Cold War, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan up to the post 9/11 'War on Terror'.

It is also a book about a daughter’s love for her father and her search to uncover, and to understand, the truth of his life and death. It is a book about a family and nation riven by murder, corruption, conspiracy and division, written by one who has lived it, in the heart of the storm.

The history of this extraordinary family mirrors the tumultuous events in Pakistan itself, and the quest to find the truth behind her father’s murder has led Bhutto to the highest echelons of her country’s volatile political establishment.

-Ends-

Notes to Editors

Title: Fatima Bhutto
Date & Time: Thu 14 Oct, 8pm
Ticket Prices: £7 (£5)
Venue: Adrian Boult Hall, Fletchers Walk, Birmingham, B3 3HG
Box Office: 0121 333 2444 or visit www.the-drum.org.uk
Facebook: Drum (West Midlands)
Twitter: Follow us on Twitter /The_Drum
MySpace: www.myspace.com/drumb6