Describing it as a celebration of words, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje inaugurated the festival by lighting the ceremonial lamp, reminiscing about her childhood memories of reading books secretively.
"For me it is like going back to childhood, sitting here and going to a magical world, I want to thank all those creators of dreams who have brought views, thoughts and ideas for us to enjoy," she said.
Extending a warm welcome to Booker winning author Margaret Atwood, Raje said this festival gives her the opportunity to finally meet authors whose books she bought to read over the years.
Canadian poet, novelist and critic Atwood, the guest of honour at the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), while delivering her keynote address, said the last time she came to India was 27 years ago when there was no concept of literary festivals in the country.
Atwood termed the Indian literary scenario as huge and complicated, and said that with the proliferation of the Internet, readership is increasing and books becoming more accessible to common people.
"In places which do not have a library or where people cannot afford books, there is a cellphone to not only read but also to write. There is a lot more access to literacy," Atwood said.
She called JLF a service to not only readers but also writers who can find their other half, that is their readers, who she termed the musicians of each book, with every musician rendering an individual interpretation.
placing a larger emphasis on world literature and the ideal of a global novel with speakers coming from all corners of the world.
The participants include Irish writer Colm Toibin, Marlon James who won the Man Booker Prize in 2015 for his epic and visceral novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings", Jamaican poet and writer Kei Miller, English comedian and actor Stephen Fry, Slovene writer Andrej Blatnik, journalist Christina Lamb and many others.
Like previous years, this year too will see riveting sessions covering issues from the personal - such as privacy and gender - to nationwide and global issues such as environment, economics, modernity, language, migration and conflict.
Even before the event started there were questions raised over safety measures at the venue with a public interest litigation being filed seeking a change in the venue. The Rajasthan High Court has given the government a week's time to respond. A huge crowd turnout and resulting traffic snarls witnessed in the venue over previous years prompted the plea.
Last year a session by former President A P J Abdul Kalam attracted the largest crowds and festival organisers had to close entry to the venue.
Mornings and evenings at the festival will spell music with soulful openings and foot-tapping culminations with exciting names including Kutle Khan, Midival Punditz, Skavengers, Mrigya, Karsh Kale, Swarathma, Mukhtiyar Ali, Gaayatri Kaundinya and Amrit Kaur Lohia.
Jaipur BookMark, JLF's publishing professionals networking will also open its two-day programme today, providing the industry with a space to do business. JBM will see 63 speakers from 12 countries in 16 sessions over two days, January 21-22.
Festival producers, Teamwork Art has come up with a new mobile app for the festival to give visitors an easy way to plan, schedule, look up information and maps and stay on top of the festival's blog and other news.