The eighth edition of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, all set to open on Wednesday, will see a galaxy of literary and musical stars come together. The organisers expect over two lakh visitors during the event.
To be inaugurated by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, the event is seen as an agenda-setter on key issues from the global economic crisis to the rise of e-books, the current state of politics in the Middle East to the increasing importance of Indian language publishing. This year the festival will look at gender equity in India in a series titled ‘Women Uninterrupted’, supported by U.N. Women to mark the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Conference on Gender, leading up to the world summit at the U.N. this September, as well as ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ that polarise society.
There will also be sessions on the exile and identity of the indigenous people of Australia, the road ahead for the subcontinent as well as conversations on the contemporary status of Sanskrit and the dualistic rise of China and India.
The festival will go beyond the four walls of Diggi Palace and hold over 300 events at 10 venues, including the Music Stage at Clarks Amer, the Jaipur BookMark at Narain Niwas and two special sessions at Amer Fort and Hawa Mahal to focus on heritage and culture, supported by Rajasthan Tourism.
‘The Poetic Imagination’ will be the theme of a keynote speech to be delivered by acclaimed writer and translator Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Sahitya Akademi Award winner Ashok Vajpeyi and Pulitzer Prize winner Vijay Seshadri. Other highlights over the five days include the participation of Nobel Laureate V.S Naipaul, Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton, renowned travel writer Paul Theroux, legends of the silver screen Waheeda Rehman, Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi as well as leading novelists Sarah Waters, Kamila Shamsie, Amit Chauduri and Eimer McBride.
Three prizes This year the festival will see the announcement of three prizes, including the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, the Ojas Art Award and Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry. The festival is working with 42 corporate partners, educational institutions, government departments, trusts and foundations. It has booked 4,000 hotel nights to host over 300 speakers and over 140 musicians.
According to Namita Gokhale, author and festival co-director, the event has transformed the way South Asian writing views itself and its place in the world.
William Dalrymple, author and another co-director, said this year’s programme was the biggest. “Each year we showcase literary India to the world, and world literature to India,” he added. “The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival has become synonymous with the best creative minds on the planet. Each of them brings his or her own unique voice to the festival, adding up to a multitude of views and opinions,”' said Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, and producer of the festival.
