The five-day Jaipur Literature Festival, starting January 17, is putting the spotlight on history in this year’s edition as it prepares to welcome leading historians from across the globe.
Covering wide-ranging events from Stalingrad to the rise and fall of Vijayanagara empire, the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, to the life of Jesus, the seventh Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) will host noteworthies like Antony Beevor, one of the world’s most successful non-fiction writers, acclaimed Professor Maya Jasanoff from Harvard University and renowned British historian Mary Beard. JLF will also feature as a sneak peak of a forthcoming portrait of Delhi by Rana Dasgupta, a Commonwealth Prize-winning British Indian writer.
Antony Beevor’s books have sold more than four million copies worldwide, with his account of the great battle of Stalingrad, winning Britain’s three biggest prizes for non-fiction: the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson Prize for History and the Hawthornden.
The groundbreaking historian, whose style of prose led the way for many contemporary non-fiction writers, will be at JLF to discuss the Second World War from a global perspective.
Rana Mitter, another historian, will recount the epic, untold story of China’s devastating eight-year war of resistance against Japan – a war which later lead to China becoming an ally of the West. Some have claimed Forgotten Ally rewrites the entire history of the Second World War, whilst offering surprising insights into contemporary
China.
In another session, marking 100 years since the start of the First World War, Australian war historian Peter Stanley, and writers Geoff Dyer and Maya Jasanoff will discuss the Indian subcontinents role in the conflict, along with military historian Rana Tej Pratap Singh Chhina.
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