Set to take place from January 25 to 29, the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival 2018 will will be a celebration of literature like no other, hosting over 350 writers from 35 nationalities, the organisers said on Tuesday.
After the Mumbai last week, the Festival held its Delhi preview here and the third roster of speakers exemplifies the diversity and depth of intellect from across India and the world.
The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival this year will host over 350 writers, thinkers, politicians, journalists and popular cultural icons, representing over 15 Indian and 20 international languages as well as being recipients of awards such as the Nobel Prize, the Man Booker, the Pulitzer Prize, the Padma Vibhusan and the Sahitya Akademi Award.
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The third list of speakers features a stellar line-up of Indian and international names covering issues as varied and complex as war and geopolitical boundaries, the environment and climate change, dystopia and gender along with broader themes such as science, history, cinema and Shakespeare.
Bestselling international novelist Adam Nicolson will speak about the resurgence in nature-writing heralded by the current wave of green literature; cultural historian and Virginia Wolfe expert Alexandra Harris will offer a fresh perspective on the English writer’s iconoclastic masterpiece Orlando; and Dominic Dromgoole, former artistic director of the Globe Theatre, will discuss Shakespeare’s universality and how his works manage to resonate with audiences from China to Syria as seen through Globe to Globe, the recent world tour of Hamlet.
Harvard professor Homi Bhabha, with his vast knowledge of post-colonial writing, will also speak at the 2018 edition of the Festival as will forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, whose books inspired the popular American television series “Bones”; human rights activist and surgeon Ma Thida will speak of her ideals and chronicle Myanmar’s dramatic history; author and filmmaker Nasreen Munni Kabir will take part in a candid conversation with musical maestro Zakir Hussain; Philip Norman, author of biographies on the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Elton John, will recollect anecdotes from the Beatles’ famed 1968 visit to India; and celebrated naturalist Redmond O’Hanlon will take the audience on a fascinating journey deep inside Congo, where he went in search of a dinosaur rumoured to have survived in a remote prehistoric lake.
Writer and Festival Co-Director William Dalrymple said: “I am thrilled to launch our line-up in Delhi. The audiences that come to the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival always contain a large number of Delhi literature-lovers and our list of star writers is always full of Delhi literati. We hope to see more Delhi wallahs than ever at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2018 and I look forward to welcoming them at the Diggi Palace in January.”
Amongst the Indian speakers are geo-strategist Brahma Chellaney who will discuss the troubled waters of the South China Sea and the Brahmaputra conundrum; C. Raja Mohan will consider the many ideas that make China an Asian powerhouse; author and economist Gurcharan Das will analyse the complex modern triptych of aspiration, greed and instant gratification and the elusive idea of frugality; poet and novelist Jeet Thayil will discuss his latest book, “The Book of Chocolate Saints”, and his dominant themes of love, hate and savagery.
P. Sainath, India’s best-known development reporter, will shed light on the heart of darkness within India’s agrarian and rural reality; filmmaker and environmentalist Pradip Kishen will unravel the ancient history and the rugged topography of the mysterious Aravalli hills; debut novelists Prayaag Akbar and Preti Taneja will discuss their chillingly dystopic novels, “Leila” and “We That Are Young” respectively and Bollywood royalty Sharmila Tagore will speak to her daughter, Soha Ali Khan, who has authored a witty memoir titled “The Perils of Being Moderately Famousa.
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(IANS)
