Team
Dedicated, diverse, and driven towards excellence
Shamim A. Aarzoo
Founder & CEO
In spite of being a Non-Lucknowite by birth, the love he carries in his heart for Lucknow as well as Literature is incomparable. The zeal to carry forward the heritage and culture of the city of Nawabs led him to the foundation of the LUCKNOW Society, which reflects his efforts to preserve the unique Lucknawi Tehzeeb and makes every citizen proud of the unique culture and heritage of which Lucknow has been a home for an endless time period now. At the very same time Literature also played a very important role to bring out the best in him as the founder of the Lucknow Literary Festival and Editor in chief of the first english literary magazine of Lucknow, The Lucknow Observer.
Displaying great leadership and vision, he has led from the front in an effort to make Lucknow a better place and, at the same time, reviving what rightfully belongs to Lucknow. Be it awareness campaigns like Kyun Ki Shahar Hai Aapka or paying tributes to Lucknow’s legends in Shaam-e-Adab. His innovativeness has been his sharpest tool to serve the city, be it his initiatives like Let’s revive, Save Our Heritage, Know Your City, which are not only targeted to make the city what it once used to be but too to make the youth aware of what they have been missing for so long or be it the book he recently presented to the city, Discovering Lucknow, a coffee table book, which not only gives the minutiae of the monuments but too depicts them in the then and now effect.
Always mindful, always in search of the next level, he not only sets an example for others but also sets very high standards for himself that ultimately set him apart from everyone.
Festival CEO since 2013