Visitors at the gorgeous entrance at Diggi Palace, Jaipur.
The 10th edition of Jaipur Literature Festival came to a close yesterday with a debate on the subject of 'post-truth world'. Distinguished writers Anne Waldman, Ashutosh Varshney, David McWilliams, Luke Harding, Shashi Tharoor, Prasoon Joshi, Suhel Seth and Swapan Dasgupta participated in the debate. Over the past 5 days, the literature fest hosted close to 250 authors from India and abroad. The sessions touched upon a multitude of ideas and themes, including the 'Freedom to dream', which explored India today in the context of its history as well as its future, Translations and World Literature, Women and Marginalized Voices, Sanskrit, and Colonialism and the Legacy of the Raj.
Traditional folk artists performing at the festival.
It was that time of the year when all the literary enthusiasts of the world were found at one place - Jaipur! The annual Zee Jaipur Literature Festival, held at Diggi Palace, transform itself into a carnival of the greatest minds. Along with celebrated writers, thinkers, journalists, historians, poets, novelists and musicians, the literary extravaganza welcomed visitors from around the globe. This year had promised an eclectic mix of speakers.Among the most renowned faces seen during this edition of the festival were Man Booker Prize Paul Beatty, Alan Hollinghurst and Richard Flanagan; Laurence Olivier award winner and two-time Academy Award nominee Sir David Hare; internationally acclaimed poet Anne Waldman; one of the India's foremost writers and philosophers S.L. Bhyrappa; 2016 Emerging Voices Award winner Eka Kurniawan and yogi, mystic and New York Times bestselling author Sadhguru.
Book lovers huddled together during a session at the festival.
While the Festival is completely free and open to all, book-lovers were able to grab the golden opportunity to interact with literary heavyweights by buying the Royal Delegate pass, visiting as a ‘Friend of the Festival’. After a leisurely lunch, one could experience the music every evening and round off the Festival dancing the night away at the Writer’s Ball. With the delegate pass, visitors had access to exclusive extra sessions at the Amber Fort and Hawa Mahal. Visitors were in awe of excellent art installations by renowned artistes such as Subodh Gupta, Jagmohan Mathodia and Rohit Chawla at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017. Known to make the best of materials intrinsic to all things India, Subodh Gupta transforms everyday objects such as milk pales, bicycles and utensils into art reflecting themes of globalization, migration and the cosmos. Having exhibited his work across the world, Rohit Chawla’s signature style includes converting a quiet corner at the Diggi Palace into a makeshift photographic studio of sorts, gently whisking away his favourite authors for a quiet intimate portrait.
Subodh Gupta's art work 'Who ate up the forests' at display during the fest at Diggi Palace, Jaipur.
Bringing together arts and culture in partnership with Rajasthan Tourism, Heritage Events is a post-festival, free-for-all event which runs parallel to ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival. In its third year, Heritage Events presented the world’s most renowned poets, musicians and singers at the archaic Hawa Mahal and Amber Fort. The musical evenings at Hotel Clarks Amer were an assortment of bands and singers such as Inna Modja, Bombay Bassment, Kabir Café, The Raghu Dixit Project and Lissa Hannigan amongst others.
