JOIN USFour Nobel Prize winners to headline 2022 Jaipur Literature Festival
With as many as four Nobel laureates among speakers, the 2022 Jaipur Literature Festival will be living up to its reputation as the grandest literature festival on earth.
American Nobel Prize winner for Economic Sciences in 2019, Abhijit Banerjee, will be the star attraction at the extravaganza held in hybrid mode this year. The online sessions began on March 5, while the on-ground festival will be held at Hotel Clarks Amer in Jaipur from March 10-14.
Other Nobel laureates to mark their presence in the festival are Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner for Economic Sciences, 2002; Abdulrazak Gurnah, Nobel Prize winner for literature, 2021; and Giorgio Parisi, Nobel Prize winner for Physics, 2021.
Though the festival features thinkers and writers from various fields, the line-up for the literature segment at this year's edition is a Who's Who of contemporary literary luminaries.
"Every year, we bring the world's greatest writers of fiction and non-fiction to Jaipur, but never have we had a line-up quite as extraordinary as this," said William Dalrymple, author and co-director of the festival. "The 2021 Nobel Prize winner, Abdulrazak Gurnah, will join the 2021 Booker Prize winner, Damon Galgut and 2021 Baillie Gifford non-fiction awardee, Patrick Radden Keefe, along with Dolman winner Taran Khan. Colm Toibin, Jonathan Franzen, Shehan Karunatilake (Commonwealth Book Prize 2012), Lisa Taddeo, Nadifa Mohammed, Tahmima Anam, Elif Shafak, DBC Pierre (2003 Booker Prize), and Monica Ali will complete our First XI of global greats of fiction."
Listing out other speakers in the literature segment, Dalrymple added, "It's going to be the most extraordinary few days and a Jaipur Literature Festival vintage that one must not miss."
"India75," celebrating 75 years of the country's Independence, is an important highlight of the festival.
A session on the country's electoral process, the lynchpin of India's democracy, will feature former Chief Election Commissioner Navin B. Chawla, BJP spokesperson and author of Makers of Modern Dalit History Guru Prakash Paswan, and retired judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Madan B. Lokur. There will be discussions on the evolution of modern India, the ideological involvement of the youth, and the disability rights movement in India.
Besides top literary sessions, there will be conversations and book launches on the themes of art, culture, and Indian languages.
Film actor Neena Gupta, theatre personality Dolly Thakore and singer Remo Fernandes will be part of the discussions.
As many as 15 Indian languages will feature at various festival sessions, where Malayalam poet K. Satchidanandan and Malayalam author M. Mukundan (winner of the 2021 JCB Prize for Literature for Delhi: The City and Its People) will be the chief attractions.
In its 15th edition, the festival is a far cry from its relatively modest beginnings in 2006. Yet, it always seemed poised for the spectacular pageant that it would become, due, in part, to the 'must-be-seen-at' event that it has become for the well-heeled. No wonder its truly electric vibe also attracts people who are not particularly fond of books. Filmstars, music and food add to the allure.
Expectedly, the festival's music stage — a ticketed event — remains one of its most popular offerings. This year, it will feature contemporary Indian classical ensemble Anirudh Varma Collective, leading Indian fusion band Advaita, Kutch Sufi folk singer Mooralala Marwada, Rajasthani folk ensemble Kutle Khan Project, Kashmiri singer Ali Saffuddin, and Hindi rock project Ankur & The Ghalat Family.
The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist, editor and arts consultant.