'Eat Pray Love' author Gilbert star attraction on inaugural day

JAIPUR LIT FEST

Nonika Singh

Come January 23 and Diggi Palace will be abuzz with activity, playing host to the 13th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival. As during the previous editions, the five-day literary spectacle will be a mix of literary heavyweights and star presence, gravitas and glamour. From award-winning author Howard Jacobson to film personalities Nandita Das and Sonali Bendre, the stage will be shared by many illustrious names. Nearly 300 speakers representing over 20 countries and 35 languages will take part. Beyond the perfunctory inauguration ceremony, the star attraction on the inaugural day will be Elizabeth Gilbert, author of memoir “Eat Pray Love”, adapted as a film starring Julia Roberts.

“How the Internet can end poverty’ and “The Digital and Virtual Futures of Mankind” will be among the many engaging sessions. With renowned authors Payal Arora, Marcus du Sautoy, John Lanchester and Sanjoy K Roy at the forefront, technology and its evolving aspects, surveillance capitalism, privacy on digital platforms and data harvesting would be subjects of immense interest. The festival this year lays greater emphasis on cyber future and artificial intelligence.

Founder of the Yangon Heritage Trust and chairman of U Thant House, Padma Shri Thant Myint-U will be in conversation with Suhasini Haidar to discuss the “Hidden History of Burma” at one of the sessions sponsored by media partner The Tribune whose Editor Rajesh Ramachandran will speak on the cataclysmic Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Edited by Ramachandran, “Martyrdom to Freedom: 100 years of Jallianwala Bagh”, a compilation of essays by writers, thinkers and historians of modern India and selected articles from the archives of the newspaper dating back to 1919, will be the focus of the discourse on January 26. Man Booker Prize winner and author of “The Finkler Question” Howard Jacobson’s session on his latest novel “Live a Little” is yet another high point of the festival. Kashmiri poet, teacher and academic Asiya Zahoor will bring alive Kashmir’s political and emotional landscape.

Acclaimed film director Vishal Bhardwaj and renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt of Harvard will shed light on the Bard of Avon. Navigating through intriguing sessions, such as “Kahaaniyon ki Rahasyamayi Duniya” and “Where Does Fiction Come”, the festival will culminate with a debate on whether or not the social media has divided society.