Before the current avalanche of Indian literary festivals, there was just the one: the Jaipur Literature Festival. 8 years old, the event has been described as “The Greatest Literary Show on Earth”. Anybody who’s anybody (and many who only think they are!) wants to be seen there, preferably engaged in deep intellectual conversation with one of the better-known authors. Read on to see what the fuss is all about.
Just what is it, anyway?
The Jaipur Literature Festival, or JLF for short, is an annual literary festival held in the city of Jaipur. It attracts the creme de la creme of the literary world, and has become the must-be-seen-at cultural destination. Last year’s edition saw more than 1,00,000 book lovers showing up.
Who will you meet?
This year, several notable writers, thinkers and artists will be attending: Nobel winner Amartya Sen, Booker nominees Jhumpa Lahiri and Jim Crace, journalists Barkha Dutt and Bachi Karkaria, Feminist writer Gloria Steinem, actor Irrfan Khan, boxer Mary Kom, politician Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha, bestselling authors Amish Tripathi, Vikram Chandra, Shashi Tharoor and Philip Hensher… the list goes on!
The most exciting events.
With over 240 attendees, there’s a lot to see and do at the festival. If you’re going, make sure you register : it’s free! And don’t forget to mark these must-attend events in your calendar:
January 17th
Keynote address by Amartya Sen. (10 AM)
Gloria Steinem in conversation with Ruchira Gupta (12:30 PM)
“Litcrit” – Carsten Jensen, Geoff Dyer, Chandrahas Choudhury, Philip Hensher and Rana Dasgupta moderated by Homi Bhabha (3:30 PM)
January 18th
“The Global Novel”- Jhumpa Lahiri, Jonathan Franzen, Jim Crace, Maaza Mengiste, Xiaolu Guo moderated by Chandrahas Choudhury (10 AM)
“Who Will Rule the World?” – Amartya Sen, Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, Xiaolu Guo and Rana Mitter, moderated by Dipankar Gupta (11:15 AM)
“Bollywood Nation” – Vamsee Juluri, Meghnad Desai, Irrfan Khan, moderated by Rupleena Bose (12:30 PM)
“The Interpreter of Stories” – Jhumpa Lahiri in conversation with Rupleena Bose
“The Paradoxes of Growth and Development” – Shashi Tharoor, Mukulika Banerjee, Ravi Venkatesan in conversation with Dipankar Gupta (3:30 PM)
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature (6PM)
January 19th
“The Immortals” – Amish Tripathi in conversation with Meru Gokhale (11 AM)
“The Cricket Novel” – Joseph O’Neill, Shashi Tharoor moderated by Samanth Subramanian (12:30 PM)
“Urdu Mein Hindustan” – Javed Akhtar introduced by Ashok Vajpeyi (2:15 PM)
“Jesus the Man, Jesus the Politician” – Reza Aslan in conversation with A.N. Wilson (3:30 PM)
“Freedom, Opinion and Expression”- John Ralston Saul, Peter Godwin, Jerry Pinto (5 PM)
January 20th
“Nine Faces of Being” – Anita Nair in conversation with Somnath Batabyal, book launch of Idris Keeper of the Light ( 10 AM)
“The Language of Laughter” – Indrajit Hazra, Shovon Chowdhury, moderated by Bachi Karkaria (2:15 PM)
“Each Other’s Stories” – Ekta Kapoor in conversation with Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi (5 PM)
January 21st
“Harvest” – Jim Crace in conversation with Chandrahas Choudhury (10 AM)
“Pulling her Punches” – Mary Kom in conversation with Amrita Tripathi (11:15 AM)
“On the Postcolonial Couch” – Tash Aw, Romesh Gunesekara, Maaza Mengiste, moderated by Rana Dasgupta (3:30 PM)
To see the complete schedule, click here.
So, are YOU going? Drop us a comment below if you are. And keep checking these pages for live updates on the biggest literary event of the year!
Mugdha Wagle
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