The “most fabulous literary love-fest on the planet”, the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, is all set to enthral literary enthusiasts again from January 20-24, 2012. As always, the annual festival will be held at the heritage property Diggi Palace in Jaipur. The DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 promises to live up to its claim of being a celebration of national and international writing ,and encompassing a wide range of activities, including debates, discussions, readings, music and workshops.
The festival will play host to over 200 speakers from across the globe. Prominent authors who have confirmed their presence at the 5th DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 include Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Amish Tripathi, Ben Okri, C P Deval, David Hare, David Remnick, Deepak Chopra, Fatima Bhutto, Gulzar, Hari Kunzru, Helen Fielding, Jamaica Kincaid, James Schapiro, Jason Burke, Javed Akhtar, Lakshmi Sharma, Mahesh Dattani, Michael Ondaatje, Mohamed Hanif, Pavan Varma, Piyush Daiya, Prasoon Joshi, Purushottam Agrawal, Rahul Bhattacharya, Rabi Thapa, Ranjit Hoskote, Shyam Jahangid, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Tahmima Anam, Thant Mynt-U, Tom Stoppard and Zoe Heller.
This year, the festival will focus on a variety of issues including bhakti and Sufi traditions, Arab Spring, Gandhi, Ambedkar and Anna, vegetarianism, censorship, writing from conflict zones, theatre and other issues.
Speaking about the literary extravaganza, festival co-director Namita Gokhale said, “The Jaipur Literature Festival is now the Kumbh Mela of Indian and international writing. It nourishes narratives and nurtures a vibrant literary community. Once again, this coming January, our festival will generate and give voice to the marvellous and spontaneous energy that has become its hallmark.”
Festival co-director William Dalrymple said, “This is our best Jaipur line-up ever. I am particularly proud this year to have brought Tom Stoppard and David Hare, two of our greatest living playwrights, cutting edge writers of non-fiction like the Tiger Mother Amy Chua, Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker, great novelists such as Annie Proulx, Ben Okri, Jonathan Safran Foer and Michael Ondaatje, as well as the editor of the New Yorker, David Remnick as well as frontline reports from the Arab Spring and the art of writing for stage and screen. We will also be analysing the fascinatingly interwoven relationships of Tolstoy, Tagore and Gandhi.”
Sanjoy K. Roy, producer,-DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, and MD-Teamwork Productions, said, “We are completely overwhelmed with the response the festival has received year after year. This is our fifth year at the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival and going forward, our sincere efforts will be to ensure that the festival in 2012 fulfils the expectations of our audiences and continues to be a dream destination for book-lovers from across the world.”
The DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, as always, is free for the general public. An online registration for all visitors has been introduced to ensure better management at the venue. Registrations for DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 are now open for delegates and the media. Details on registration and accreditation are available on the website http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/registration/. Special rates at festival hotels are also available for those seeking accommodation.
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