The best edition so far, says William Dalrymple

That was another festival successfully concluded. How do you feel?
I think in terms of the literature, it's the best we've had in Diggi. We've got these universally brilliant writers. We've sorted out the problem we have had for years of not having good enough moderators. The music we had a couple of bad drop outs at the last minute this year, so the music stage hasn't been quite as good as it has been.

What about next year – the big tenth anniversary?
We have to come up with something special, but I have no idea what it's going be.

But don't you try and do something special every year?
We try and put out as many stops as we can every year. To give you an example, the three writers here this year I've been pursuing for nine years — Margaret Atwood, Calm Tóibín, Aleksander Hemon. I've been writing to them every year. It's like being a hunter, being a festival director. You lay wait for your prey and then you leap on them (laughs).

How difficult is it to persuade them?
One of the great things, partly because it's Jaipur, is that it's never been very difficult. January in Jaipur in a palace is about the easiest sell in the literary world. But not everyone says no straight away and not everyone says yes immediately.

In nine years, haven't you run through the list of authors?
There's many more. I suppose the one guy who's stood out for longest without saying no completely is Peter Carey; I love his writing.

What about next year?
Two or three authors I've been chasing for a year have accepted for next year — Alan de Botton, Guy Foster, Stephen Greenblatt, Amanda Foreman, Ha Joon Chang, William Boyd, Alan Hollinghurst. A couple who've come earlier but not recently — Junot Diaz, Richard Ford. And then some people who accepted this year but fell out for various reasons — Simon Winchester, Fauzia Sikander, Roberto Calaso, Richard Senate — will be here.

When do you begin work on the festival?
I'm going to put this away for two months and not do anything. In April it begins; there's a low hum through the summer; reaches a screech by autumn, and a deafening crescendo by end November.
Every year, something happens and there's talk that the festival might not happen.

It goes on the whole time. I don't get it. We're getting the greatest minds of the world here. We're doing it for free. How could anyone not see that this is all plus?

What about the external environment – the government machinery?
We've had more support from the state government this year than we've ever. Vasundhara Raje has thrown everything behind us. When there was a PIL, she had the attorney general defend us. I hugely welcome the support from her.

What are the future plans for ZeeJLF?
To be honest, there is a slight divergence of interest here. I am a writer, my job is to write books. I am not a cultural entrepreneur. We're now invited very regularly to take it to Melbourne, to California. I've got 10 invitations over just the last week. I am very happy if Sanjoy (Roy, festival producer) wants to take it around the world. I love all this; I'm so proud of it; it's the week I enjoy the most in a year. But I am already at the maximum I can afford to give. It used to take a week, then it took a month, now it takes three months.