JLF announces second list of speakers for 13th edition

Pulitzer winner Dexter Filkins, Elizabeth Gilbert of "Eat, Pray, Love" fame, and culinary expert Madhur Jaffrey feature on Jaipur Literature Festival's second list of 25 speakers that was announced on Wednesday.

Touted as world's largest free literary event, the festival, now in its 13th edition, is expected to see participation by over 250 authors, thinkers, politicians and popular culture icons, with a special focus on world literature.

It will be held from January 23 - 27, 2020 at the Diggi Palace Hotel in Jaipur.

"The festival will once again be a grand marathon of ideas between idealists, realists, visionaries, intellectuals, the avant-garde and the iconoclasts, who will engage in informed discussion and be united by an abiding love for literature," organisers said.

Among the speakers to watch out for in the second list are Filkins, who won the the Pulitzer prize for covering Afghanistan and Pakistan, award-winning writers Anand Gopal, Anuradha Bhagwati, Asne Seierstad, noted Indian poet Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, and former minister of European Affairs in Portugal Bruno Macaes.

"The second list we have announced for January 2020 has an intriguing mix of new and established, popular and unexpected speakers. I am excited about welcoming all these wonderful authors to the festival," said festival co-director Namita Gokhale.

The list also includes a vastly diverse mix of journalists, activists, columnists, broadcasters and poets like Toole, author of seven books, including the bestselling "A Traitor's Kiss"; Delhi-born author Keshava Guha,who writes regularly on politics, literature and sports for a host of publications; novelist and activist Leila Slimani, winner of the prestigious French literature award Prix Goncourt for her second novel, "Chanson douce"; poet Lemn Sissay, who has read on stage throughout the world from the Library of Congress in the United States to the University of Addis Ababa.

"As we gear up for the 13th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival, we reinforce our commitment to bringing the best literary experience for our audiences through discourse and debate.

"This year's programme features the best writers and academics from across the world including Nobel laureates, Booker, Commonwealth, Sahitya Akademi, JCB and Crossword prize winners, as well as a host of new voices who will disarm you with their perspective of our world," said festival producer Sanjoy K Roy.

Sessions by columnists like Neelum Saran Gour and Parvati Sharma; Peter Frankopan, who was named one of the World's 50 Top Thinkers by Prospect Magazine; Paul Muldoon, a former BBC radio and television producer and winner of Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (2003 ); National Book Award finalist Peter Hessler and Magsaysay Award winning journalist Ravish Kumar, are also part of the line-up.

"The names we are revealing this week include some of the great masters of contemporary literature... I can barely believe the talent we are bringing together this year," said festival co-director William Dalrymple.

The list also includes novelist Roshan Ali, author of "Ib's Endless Search for Satisfaction" which has been shortlisted for the 2019 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and the 2019 JCB Prize for Literature; Indian academician Shekhar Pathak, recipient of the Padma Shri; UK poet laureate Simon Armitage and Mughal historian Supriya Gandhi.

Like previous editions, the seventh edition of Jaipur BookMark (JBM), a platform for publishers, literary agents, translation agencies and writers wanting to talk business along with focussed sessions with major industry players from across the world, will run parallel to the festival.