No dampener for literary spirits at rain drenched JLF

Rains that lashed the city from early morning saw participants and visitors at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival scramble for cover but despite inclement weather, debates and discussions continued throughout the day, albeit truncated.
While some sessions like the one with Lauren Child were cancelled due to the unceasing showers, others were moved to closed venues of Durbar Hall and Baithak inside the Diggi Palace, the venue of the festival.
Panelists were forced to conclude their debates and discussions within 30 minutes or less, something that gave rise to a lot of people colliding into each other as they proceeded from one session to the next to listen to their favourite writers.

Indian-American writer Jhumpa Lahiri trumped four shortlisted authors to win the USD 50,000 DSC Prize. The author, currently in Rome said over phone that she was honoured to receive the Prize for the book, which started writing 20 years ago.
Some of the prominent discussions at the Festival included one by Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri who talked about his upcoming book "Neither Hawk, nor Dove" based on Indo-Pak relations.
Yesteryear Bollywood star Waheeda Rehman went down memory lane recalling her days as newcomer in the industry and her chemistry with co-actors and directors in conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir and Arshia Sattar.

Pulitzer prize winner Vijay Shesadri was in conversation with Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi and talked about how writing could pave a passage to America.

While Neil Rennee was in conversation with Samanth Subramanian in a session titled "Pirates of the Indian Ocean-Real and Imaginary", authors Shamsur Rehman Faruqi and Bilal Tanweer discussed the beauty of truth.
Fiction writer Ashwin Sanghi, who recently co-authored a crime novel based in India with American author James Patterson talked about the relationship between mysteries and sale spreadsheets.
Lyricist Javed Akhtar, food critic Pushpesh Pant and author translator Ali Husain Mir discussed the progressive movement in Urdu literature while Hanif Qureshi, Paul Theroux and Sarah Waters dwelled into the world of translations.

A coffee table book "Curtain Call-Celebrating Indian Theatre' on 10 years of Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards was launched by actor Shaban Azmi and playwright Girish Karnad. Azmi also recited poetry at the historic Hawa Mahal, which was followed by a fiery flamenco performance by Rasa Duendes.