Beginning March 27th, publishing house Juggernaut Books is beginning a 30-day online literary festival that will feature authors and books from across publishing houses.
“Natasha (Puri), our marketing head, had this idea for a long time and we kept trying to figure out how to do it, but there was always a bandwidth problem. This time we all thought of it simultaneously and it seemed right,” says Chiki Sarkar, the publisher and founder of Juggernaut Books in Delhi.
The festival will have a daily 12 noon online event that could be a dialogue, a book reading, a session of writers showing viewers their bookshelves, a masterclass, a talk by personal development writers, or a Saturday writing workshop. There’s a day reserved for children, plus competitions, and editor recommendations.
- Friday, March 27: What’s on my bookshelf with Twinkle Khanna, Masterclasswith Rujuta Diwekar
- Saturday, March 28: Writing workshop with Neharika Gupta
- Sunday, March 29: The Dialogue with Shyam Saran and Dr Shivshankar Menon
- Monday, March 30: Editor’s pick with Chiki Sarkar; Masterclass with Manu Pillai
- Tuesday, March 31: Readings with Konkana Sen On Facebook.com/JuggernautIndia
The conversations will feature economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Dufflo, diplomats Shyam Saran and Shiv Shankar Menon speak about the post COVID world order, and journalists Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose on Indira vs Modi.
Highlights from the masterclasses are Katherine Eban talking about her hot book Bottle of Lies on the Indian pharma industry, Tony Joseph giving a talk on early Indians, Sudhir Sitapati talking about what Indian companies can learn from HUL, and Rujuta Diwekar on staying healthy.
Expect short story readings by actors Shabhana Azmi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Soha Ali Khan, Adil Hussain, cancer survivor Tahira Khurana, and comedian Papa CJ.
The hope is that to “keep the conversation around books alive at this moment,” so people listen in and then read books by the authors, says Chiki.
This is in continuation of the company’s #ReadInstead campaign to encourage people to pick up a book rather than binge watch or get stressed.
