Beyond the words

When VS Naipaul and Paul Theroux chose to bury the hatchet at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival (Zee-JLF) in 2015, it ended a two-decade-old feud between the Nobel laureate and his American protege over the latter’s unsparing account of their association, Sir Vidia's Shadow: A Friendship Across Five Continents (2001). In a heart-warming gesture, a frail Naipaul in a wheelchair shook hands with the novelist and travel writer — the reconciliation facilitated by another renowned literary figure Ian McEwan. Later, an overwhelmed Sir Vidiya broke down on the Front Lawns stage.

Controversies galore

Sociologist Ashish Nandy became the victim of a controversy at JLF 2013 over his comments on corruption by Dalits and OBCs. Nandy said something to the effect that corruption was a great equaliser and gave deprived sections access to the loot. It sparked outrage; an FIR was filed against Nandy and festival producer Sanjoy Roy under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Nandy tried damage control, but the damage couldn’t be undone and he left the Lit Fest midway amid a growing clamour for his arrest. The fracas made it to the front pages and stayed for days on end.

Controversy’s favourite child Salman Rushdie kicked up a storm when he accused the Rajasthan government of preventing him from attending Zee-JLF in 2012. He said that the state administration was concocting lies, among them that hitmen were out to get him, to keep him out of the event. The Ashok Gehlot government denied writing to Rushdie about death threats. It claimed to have passed on Intelligence Bureau inputs to the festival organisers. His no-show was a huge disappointment for the 10,000-strong crowd. Fearing a major law-and-order situation, the author of Satanic Verses wasn't allowed to address the gathering even through a videolink.

Star struck

Zee-JLF has had its fair share of celebrity participants from India and abroad — poet-screenwriter, lyricist and director Gulzar, poets and lyricists Javed Akhtar and Prasoon Joshi, actors Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher and Kajol, film and TV producer Ekta Kapoor, director Karan Johar, English comedian, writer and actor Stephen Fry and international talk-show hostess Oprah Winfrey. Zee-JLF has indeed been a starry affair.

Authors are the rockstars in Jaipur, and over the years many of the top names from the world of writing has landed up to the adulation of thousands of fans across India and the world. From Nobel laureates to Man Booker Prize winners, the Zee-JLF has been a meeting ground for some of the finest of minds. Who wouldn't want to see and hear up close geniuses such as JM Coetzee, VS Naipaul, Margaret Atwood and Ruskin Bond who have contributed to the awe-inspiring moments of Zee-JLF?

Expanding the scope of the festival beyond four-days-a-year, Zee-JLF began Jaipur BookMark some years ago as an initiative that brings authors, publishers, literary agents and other stakeholders of the publishing industry on a common platform where they exchange ideas, talk shop, and sometimes even ink a deal. It is geared towards catering to the South Asian market and offers authors and publishers in regional languages an opportunity to take their work to the wider world. Translation is a key feature of this endeavour. Jaipur BookMark 2016 brought to the publishing and translation market a Global Rights Translation Catalogue with a select list of eight works on offer for translation from across six Indian languages. This year JBM launches the New Writers’ Mentorship Programme, which offers a chance for wannabe writers to pitch directly to agents, editors, critics.

Zee-JLF is no longer just in Jaipur. Hosted at Southbank along the Thames, the London edition of JLF was launched showcasing South Asia's multi-lingual heritage, in 2014. JLF at Boulder, launched in 2015 in the US's Colorado, is another testimony of success. The Melbourne chapter, which debuts in February this year, will connect South Asia with Australia's unique identities. It explores culture, migration, identity, gender, environment and several other issues in the same spirit that permeates the Jaipur affair. 

In 2015, JLF parted ways with the organisers of DSC Prize for South Asian Literature with which it had a five-year association, beginning in 2010. Since its inception, the award (prize money of Rs1,700,000/ US$50,000 / £35,000), has recognised the talent of HM Naqvi, Shehan Karunatilaka, Jeet Thayil, Cyrus Mistry and Jhumpa Lahiri. The significant prize money makes DSC much coveted. Jeet Thayil once remarked: the US$50,000 prize had given him “50,000 reasons to celebrate” and “the gift of time”. 

The popularity of JLF has grown by leaps and bounds. Last year, the world's largest, free literary festival recorded a 40% jump in footfalls. And this, despite the Rs100 fee for on-site registrations; the first time the festival was charging money, however nominal, for getting in. But what’s Rs100 compared to the chance to listen to 360 authors (and 100 musicians) from 33 countries who took part in the festival last year?