Jaipur Literature Festival

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Jaipur Literature Festival
Genre Literary festival
Dates 17-21 January 2014
Location(s) Diggi Palace, Jaipur, India
Years active 2006 – present
Website
http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/

The Jaipur Literature Festival is an annual literary festival[1] taking place in the Indian city of Jaipur since 2006.[2] Asia's biggest literary festival,[3] it was described by Miranda Seymour in the Mail on Sunday of 10 August 2008 as "the grandest literary Festival of them all".

The Diggi Palace Hotel serves as the main venue of the festival. It is held each year in Jaipur, Rajasthan during the month of January, usually in the Hall of Audience and gardens of the Diggi Palace in the city centre, and celebrates excellence in Rajasthani, Indian and International writing.

The festival directors are the writers Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple and is produced by Sanjoy Roy of Teamwork Productions. The Festival is an Initiative of the Jaipur Virasat Foundation founded by Faith Singh,[4] originally as a segment of the Jaipur Heritage International Festival in 2006, and developed into a free-standing festival of literature standing on its own feet in 2008.[1][5] JVF's Community Director Vinod Joshi is its regional advisor. The Jaipur Heritage International Festival is an initiative of the Jaipur Virasat Foundation.Jaipur International Fashion Week contributed by Mahavir Pratap Sharma,also the city director and trustee of Jaipur Virasat Foundation, is also a major festival.All events at the festival are free and not ticketed.

The festival gained international media attention in 2012, because of a number of events related to Salman Rushdie and the Satanic Verses controversy. In recent years it faces media criticism and lampooning due to its perceived elitism, irrelevance, commercialization of literature and dependence on celebrities.[6]

History, Timeline

2006

The 2006 inaugural Jaipur Literature Festival had 18 writers including Hari Kunzru, William Dalrymple, Shobhaa De and Namita Gokhale and 14 others.[7] It drew a crowd of about 100 attendees, including some who "appeared to be tourists who had simply got lost," according to the event's co-director William Dalrymple.[8]

2007

In 2007 the festival grew in size and featured Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai, Suketu Mehta, Shashi Deshpande, and William Dalrymple.

2008

In 2008 the festival continued to expand with about 2,500 attendees[9] and the following authors/speakers: Ian McEwan, Donna Tartt, John Berendt, Paul Zacharia, Indra Sinha, Uday Prakash, Christopher Hampton, Manil Suri, Miranda Seymour

2009

The 2009 festival had about 12,000 attendees[10] and over 140[10] authors/speakers including Vikram Seth, Pico Iyer, Michael Ondaatje, Simon Schama, Tina Brown, Hanif Kureshi, Hari Kunzru, Pankaj Mishra, Tariq Ali, Ahmed Rashid, Patrick French, Mohsin Hamid, Mohammed Hanif, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Tarun Tejpal, Sashi Tharoor, U R Ananthmurthy, Alka Saraogi, Anuragh Mathur, Ashok Vajpayi, Asish Nandy, Basharat Peer, Charles Nicoll, Christophe Jafferlot, Colin Thubron, Daniyal Mueenudin, Geetanjali Shree, Mukul Kesavan, Musharraf Ali Farooqui, Narayana Rao, Nikita Lalwani, Paul Zacharia, Pavan K Varma, Rana Dasgupta, S R Faruqui, Tariq Ali, Tash Aw, Udayan Vajpayi, Farah Khan and Sonia Faleiro, with music provided by DJ Cheb i Sabbah, Nitin Sawney, and Paban Das Baul. The special theme was the oral tradition, in India and elsewhere.[10]

2010

The 2010 festival had about 30,000 attendees[11] and 172 authors/speakers, including Geoff Dyer, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Jamaica Kincaid, Niall Ferguson, Vikram Chandra and Hemant Shesh.[12]

2011

Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, and Prasoon Joshi at Jaipur Literature Festival 2011

The 2011 festival had 226 writers like Hemant Shesh, Prasoon Joshi, Javed Akhtar, Gulzar /speakers, including Nobel-winners J.M. Coetzee and Orhan Pamuk.[13]

2012

See also: The Satanic Verses controversy
Salman Rushdie cancelled his complete tour of India citing possible threats to his life as the primary reason

The 2012 festival was held from 20–24 January, with the talk show host Oprah Winfrey and author Salman Rushdie among the names announced in advance.[14] Rushdie later cancelled, and indeed cancelled his complete tour of India citing possible threats to his life as the primary reason.[15][16][3] Rushdie investigated police reports that hitmen had been hired to assassinate him and implied that the police might have exaggerated the potential danger.[17]

Meanwhile, police seek Ruchir Joshi, Jeet Thayil, Hari Kunzru and Amitava Kumar who have fled Jaipur on the advice of officials at the Jaipur Literature Festival after reading excerpts from The Satanic Verses, which is banned in India.[18] Kunzru later wrote, "Our intention was not to offend anyone's religious sensibilities, but to give a voice to a writer who had been silenced by a death threat".[19]

A proposed video link session between Rushdie and the Jaipur Literature Festival ran into difficulty after the government pressured the festival to stop it.[17]

Rushdie expressed disappointment "on behalf of India", "an India in which religious extremists can prevent free expression of ideas at a literary festival, in which the politicians are too, let's say, in bed with those groups...for narrow electoral reasons, in which the police forces are unable to secure venues against demonstrators even when they know the demonstration is on its way".[20][21]

The Chairman of the Press Council of India and former judge of the Supreme Court Markandey Katju said that although he was "not in favour of religious obscurantism", he found Rushdie a "poor" and "substandard writer" and the focus on him detracting from more fundamental issues of "colonial inferiority complex" among educated Indians and what a literary mission could be about.[22] Scottish novelist Allan Massie wrote, "The response to words should be words and words in the form of argument, not abuse".[23] Manoj Joshi, writing in Britain's Daily Mail, said the whole affair had brought to the fore "the contradictions of modern India. At one level, they live in a democracy that promises all the freedoms that their cherished West offers, at another, they are besieged by forces of obscurantism and violence which try to pull them back to the medieval ages in which many of our religious and political leaders live".[24] Peter Florence, Director, Hay Festivals, said the whole affair showed the importance of book festivals.[25]

On 28 January, Rushdie responded to Chetan Bhagat via Twitter after the popular writer taunted him and his work.[26]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Writes of passage". Hindustan Times (India). 30 January 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2008. 
  2. ↑ Literacy in India & the Jaipur Literature Festival, 25 January 2010. "Today [25 Jan 2010] marks the end of the 5th annual Jaipur Literature Festival .. First organized in 2005.."
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Burke, Jason (20 January 2012). "Salman Rushdie pulls out of Jaipur literary festival over assassination fears". The Guardian. England. Retrieved 20 January 2012. 
  4. ↑ "In the throes of joy". The Hindu (India). 20 January 2006. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 
  5. ↑ "Looking for something special? Try treasure hunting in India". KiwiCollection.com. Retrieved 22 April 2008. 
  6. ↑ Banker, Ashok (2012-01-30). "Luetic Marxists For Levite Maharajahs". Outlook India. Retrieved 2012-04-36. 
  7. ↑ "Pen On The Rostrum ", OutlookIndia.com, 17 April 2006
  8. ↑ "Literary festival draws big stars", The Brunei Times, 1 February 2010.
  9. ↑ "Review 2008". Jaipurliteraturefestival.org. Retrieved 26 January 2012. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "About the festival ’09". Jaipurliteraturefestival.org. Retrieved 26 January 2012. 
  11. ↑ About the Festival ’10
  12. ↑ "2010 Attending Authors". Jaipurliteraturefestival.org. Retrieved 26 January 2012. 
  13. ↑ "2011 Festival: Attending Speakers". Jaipurliteraturefestival.org. Retrieved 26 January 2012. 
  14. ↑ "2012 Speakers". Jaipurliteraturefestival.org. Retrieved 26 January 2012. 
  15. ↑ Singh, Akhilesh Kumar (20 January 2012). "Salman Rushdie not to attend Jaipur Literature Festival". The Times of India. India. Retrieved 20 January 2012. 
  16. ↑ "Salman Rushdie pulls out of Jaipur literature festival". BBC News. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Singh, Akhilesh Kumar (24 January 2012). "Jaipur Literature Festival: Even a virtual Rushdie is unwelcome for Rajasthan govt". The Times of India. India. Retrieved 24 January 2012. 
  18. ↑ Singh, Akhilesh Kumar; Chowdhury, Shreya Roy (23 January 2012). "Salman Rushdie shadow on Jaipur Literature Festival: 4 authors who read from 'The Satanic Verses' sent packing". The Times of India. India. Retrieved 23 January 2012. 
  19. ↑ Kunzru, Hari (22 January 2012). "Why I quoted from The Satanic Verses". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2012. 
  20. ↑ "Politicians in bed with extremists for electoral gains". The Times of India. India. 25 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
  21. ↑ Burke, Jason (24 January 2012). "Salman Rushdie goes on offensive after Indian festival appearance is cancelled". The Guardian. England. Retrieved 24 January 2012. 
  22. ↑ "Salman Rushdie is poor, substandard writer: Justice Katju". The Times of India. India. 25 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
  23. ↑ Massie, Allan (25 January 2012). "Salman Rushdie and the Jaipur Literary Festival: the zealots have triumphed again". The Telegraph. England. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
  24. ↑ Joshi, Manoj (26 January 2012). "Not letting him speak is a travesty: But the Rushdie affair should not be allowed to damage what is a great literary festival". Daily Mail. England. Retrieved 26 January 2012. 
  25. ↑ Florence, Peter (26 January 2012). "Salman Rushdie case shows importance of book festivals". The Telegraph. England. Retrieved 26 January 2012. 
  26. ↑ "Rushdie, Chetan in tweet war". The Times of India. India. 29 January 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012. 

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