Jaipur Literature festival is one of the biggest and most spectacular events organized in the ‘Pink City’ of Rajasthan, Jaipur. It is a great gathering where people can share their different viewpoints on the same or different topics. The festival includes various sessions related to readings, discussions, debates, questions and answers etc.
The literary festival is not only popular among Indians, but it also attracts literature-enthusiasts and book lovers from all around the world. It is one of the great opportunities to meet the world renowned authors and writers whose books and novels are read and loved by all.
The festival directors are the writers Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple and it is produced by Sanjoy Roy of teamwork productions. Every year the festival has new range of visitors, which keeps increasing.
When is the Festival held?
Jaipur Literature festival is a five day celebration, which is mainly held during January end every year.
Where is the Festival held?
The festival is organized mainly in Digi Palace hotel which lies within the close proximity to the city center of Jaipur, around 5 km away. The hotel is located in Sangram colony, Ashok Nagar and is just a walking distance from the old city of Jaipur.
Though, the venue of the festival remains the same, but the setting for different events conducted during the festival keeps changing. Celebrated with great enthusiasm, the decorations and arrangements of the festival are done inside the hall of audience and gardens of the palace.
What happens at the Festival?
Jaipur Literature Festival is one among the World’s largest free literary festivals that is flocked by multiple authors and writers from all parts of the world. The festival aims at to celebrate the Rajasthani, Indian and International writings.
From famous authors to local language writers, the festival has all kinds of literature lovers. There are amazing discussions done on important and vast topics by students and other famed people. The merged ideas and opinions of great thinkers, prize winners and novelists add on to the energy and charm of the festival. The festival started in the year 2006 and its popularity has grown by leaps and bounds, every year.
Some of the authors and writers who have attended the festival in past years- like in 2010, the festival had 172 authors and speakers including Geoff Dyer, Jamaica Kincaid, Vikram Chandra and Niall Ferguson; and in year 2011 the highlights of the festival were 226 writers including Orhan Pamuk, Prasoon Joshi, Javed Akhtar and Hemant Shesh.
If we talk about the festival held in 2015, it was beyond words. With great arrangements the festival had 300 events in 10 venues including Music at Clarks Amer, Book mark at Narayan Niwas and notable sessions on heritage and culture at Amer Fort and Hawa Mahal. On top of that, the prime attractions of the festival’15 were the sessions held on Nobel Laureate Sir V.s Naipaul and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former president of India. Also, every year the festival follows different themes on which the discussions are carried out.
Some of the well-known authors who took part in the literature festival’15 were Sir. V. S. Naipaul, Eleanor Catton, Hanif Kureishi, Cornelia Funke and Kedarnath Singh.
For instance, in 2015, the main theme was Seven Deadly Sins followed by talks on poetry, literature of South-East Asia, meltdown in the Middle East and Af-Pak, spies, historical fiction, alternative sexualities, memoir writing, cricket writing, politics, pirates and Seven States of Northeast India. There were brilliant conversations held on all the topics.
Apart from events and meetings, people can also enjoy the musical evenings, held after the literary sessions. There is an outdoor lounge bar too where one can loosen-up. There are a range of stalls selling everything from books to food and amazing handicrafts of Rajasthan. Moreover, you can buy your favorite authors book and get it signed along with getting a photograph clicked.
