DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2013 announced
-The annual festival scheduled for 24th – 28th January, 2013, at Diggi Palace, Jaipur
– Music stage to shift to a new venue at The Clarks (Amer) Lawns
– Online registration and press accreditation has begun
Chennai, 5th November 2012: The much-awaited sixth annual DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, where literary talents from across the globe meet, has been scheduled from 24th to 28th January, 2013, at Diggi Palace in Jaipur. The five-day festival will encompass a wide range of activities including debates, discussions, readings, music, and workshops for the audiences.
Like all its previous editions, this year’s Festival too is open to all. A new venue, the Char Bagh, has been added to the existing venues at Diggi Palace to expand its capacity by another 5,000 people per hour. The DSC Jaipur Literature Festival continues to be the largest free literature festival and among the five largest such festivals in the world, with a unique visitor registration of 57,000, and a footfall of more than 122,000 in 2012.
Registrations for the Festival’s 2013 edition have begun for delegates, members of the media, and the general public. Details on registration and accreditation are available at the following link on the Festival’s website, jaipurliteraturefestival.org/registration/. While on-the-spot registration will be available at the venue, guests are encouraged to register online in advance to avoid long queues. Special rates at hotels associated with the Festival are available for those seeking accommodation. Online booking closes on 21st January, 2013.
This year, too, the Festival will showcase the diversity of writing in Indian languages with over 16 languages represented, including Hindi, Urdu, Rajasthani, Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Punjabi, Bangla, Malayalam, Gujarati, Sindhi, Kannada, and Kashmiri. A special emphasis will be on the transition of Maithili and Bhojpuri literature from the traditional to the contemporary.
The themes and session strands at the Festival will focus on a wide range of topics, some of which are: The Buddha in Literature, The Republic of Ideas (a Republic Day focus on ideas of India), Re-imagining the Kama Sutra, Hindi-English Bhai Bhai, Alternative Sexualities, Lok Geet Folk Geet, Bollywood ki Nayi Sanskriti, and Bibliodiversity Dialogues. The session, Remembering Sunil Da, will pay tribute to the late Sunil Gangopadhyay, who had once again accepted our invitation to attend the Festival in 2013 before his tragic demise. International sessions at the Festival will explore Russian literature, the Jewish novel, Shakespeare, Kipling, cricket writing, the New Africa, Iran, and writing on the contemporary art scene.
Some of the authors who have confirmed their presence at the Festival in 2013 are: Ambai, Benyamin, Bhalchandra Nemade, Diana Eck, Elizabeth Gilbert, Erica Jong, Frank Dikkoter, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Gulzar, Hisham Matar, Homi Bhabha, Howard Jacobson, Javed Akhtar, Kancha Ilaiah, Kunwar Narain, Linda Grant, Madeline Miller, Michael Sandel, Michel Houellebecq, Nadeem Aslam, Neelesh Mishra, Orlando Figes, Pico Iyer, Reza Aslan, Simon Armitage, and Zoe Heller.
Speaking about the literary extravaganza, Festival Co-Director Namita Gokhale said, ‘This January, the magical banyan tree of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival will once again spread its branches and extend it roots, as another intense and joyous edition of the lit fest continues the tradition of books, dialogue and creativity. Sessions on the Buddha will comprise aspects of literature, aesthetics, philosophy and social issues, with writers
and practitioners like Ranjini Obeyesekere, Ani Choying, Benoy K. Behl and Kancha Ilaiah. The Festival will continue to showcase writing from the Indian languages, and will present an invaluable platform for interactions between established and upcoming writers from India and abroad.’
Festival Co-Director William Dalrymple said, ‘The international list at Jaipur this year is one of unprecedented depth and range, with our most cerebral and intellectually formidable group of writers yet. These include a galaxy of Booker, Pulitzer, Orange, Crossword and Samuel Johnson prize-winners and some of the most important thinkers and critics of our time. Some of the themes to be explored include Stalin vs. Mao, Freedom of Speech, The Middle East, The Future of Afghanistan, Empire, Yoga, the 18th Century Sexual Revolution, Depression, Gandhi Re-examined, Ethics, Ashoka and Breakout Nations.’
Commenting on this year’s edition of the Festival, Sanjoy K. Roy, Producer, DSC Jaipur Literature Festival and MD, Teamwork Productions, said, ‘We will continue to explore ways to create a unique experience for our guests and visitors who gather each year to celebrate a show like no other. We look forward to welcoming our audiences on the 24th of January, 2013.’
In 2012, the Festival hosted around 258 speakers, including 250 international and Indian authors, and over 100 performing artists from across the world.
Notes to the Editor
About The DSC Jaipur Literature Festival
The DSC Jaipur Literature Festival is considered to be Asia’s leading literature event, celebrating national and international writers, and encompassing a range of activities including film, music and theatre. The festival has already hosted some of the best-known national and international writers including Orhan Pamuk, J.M. Coetzee, John Berendt, Kiran Desai, Christopher Hampton, Ian McEwan, Vikram Seth, Wole Soyinka, Salman Rushdie, Pico Iyer, Simon Schama, Thomas Keneally, Hanif Kureishi, Vikram Chandra, Anoushka Shankar, Michael Frayn, Stephen Frears, Alexander McCall Smith, Donna Tartt, Tina Brown, Shashi Tharoor, Mohammed Hanif, Paul Zacharia, among many others. The Directors of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festivals are William Dalrymple and Namita Gokhale and the festival is produced by Sanjoy K. Roy and Sheuli Sethi of Teamwork Productions. DSC Limited is the principal sponsor of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival.
About Teamwork Productions
Teamwork is a highly versatile entertainment company with roots in the performing arts, social action and the corporate world. Our expertise lies in the area of entertainment and includes television, film – documentary and feature, and the creation and development of festivals of contemporary performing arts, visual arts, and literature across the world.
We currently produce 17 performing and visual arts festivals in 21 cities across 11countries, including Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Israel, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK and USA.
Teamwork produces Asia’s biggest literary gathering – the annual DSC Jaipur Literature Festival – as well as the Hay Festival in Kerala.
‘Celebrating India in Israel’, ‘Indian Summer in Canada’, ‘Eye on India in Chicago’, ‘Kahaani Festival’ and ‘Strings of the World’ are five new annual performing and visual arts festivals that have been launched in 2011-2012.
Website: www.teamworkfilms.com
For further details contact:
Ketchum Sampark Pvt. Ltd.