Dubbed as one of the greatest literary shows and the “Kumbh of Literature”, the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) 2021 opens this weekend on a brand-new virtual platform which recreates the iconic Diggi Palace Hotel in Jaipur, its annual home for festivalgoers in India.
JLF this year promises as an immersive experience for literature-lovers as it continues to “celebrate the word”, bringing together a diverse set of voices and a gamut of stories – fearless and funny, fiery and tender, fantastical and true-to-life, equivocal, atypical and every day.
With an mega line-up of speakers and sessions, the Festival this year features over 300 speakers and performers representing around 25 Indian and 18 international languages and over 23 nationalities as well as major literary awards ranging from the Nobel and the Booker to the Pulitzer.
Author and Festival Co-Director William Dalrymple said: “Despite pandemics and political upheavals around the world, the Jaipur Literature Festival continues to spread its wings and has transformed itself into one of the world's most popular online spaces for profound discussions about books and writing.
“While this year's Jaipur will be a quieter affair than usual, our commitment to literary excellence continues undimmed as we present one of our most extraordinary lists to date."
India’s rich, diverse and colourful literary heritage remains at the core of the 14th Jaipur Literature Festival as it brings together writers from across India representing a multitude of the country’s languages. This year, the festival hosts speakers from the vast canvas of Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Assamese, Sanskrit, Braj, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Odiya, Bhojpuri, Khaasi, Kashmiri, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Santhali, Bodo, Manipuri, Sindhi, Nepali, Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Dogri and Kannada.
Author and Jaipur Literature Festival Co-Director Namita Gokhale said: “ The virtual edition of Jaipur Literature Festival 2021 is an absorbing immersive experience where we encounter an outstanding roster of great writers from around the world.
“It could be called a living library, or indeed a library of life. The challenges and disruptions of 2020 have transformed into the triumphs of 2021.”
The Festival will also have speakers representing a number of global and international languages like English, Italian, Irish, Nepali, Dutch, Estonian, Bhutanese, Sinhala, Afrikaans, Polish, Russian, Hebrew, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Welsh, Kurdish, to name a few.
Sanjoy K Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts, the producer of Jaipur Literature Festival, added: “Jaipur Literature Festival 2021 has a stellar list and is possibly one of our best festival line ups ever with Nobel Laureates – Joeseph Stiglitz and Malala Yousafzai, an exclusive session with Bill Gates and Priyanka Chopra and an array of visually exciting sessions on music, dance, theatre, food, sustainability, innovation and much more.”