These are testing times. Times which we had not ever foreseen or can even quite comprehend. Times which have made us distance ourselves physically from one another even as we value and understand the importance of the human connection.
This is also a time when we turn to the hope-instilling powers of literature. The iconic Jaipur Literature Festival has always celebrated the glory of the word and the spirit of the community that books build. The Festival believes in linking people through the universal language of art and literature at a time which defies every known challenge. Now more than ever, when de-globalisation is the need of the hour, a free-flowing exchange of ideas must be kept alive.
Teamwork Arts, producer of the annual Jaipur Literature Festival, today announced its new literature series – “JLF presents Brave New World”, a virtual initiative to celebrate books, their power and positivity. “Brave New World” will be an online literature series in which the sprawling grounds of Diggi Palace will be replaced by the boundless possibilities of the Internet. The series has been scheduled to kick off from Saturday, 4th April, 2020.
Described as the “greatest literary show on Earth”, the Jaipur Literature Festival is a sumptuous feast of ideas. The past decade has seen it transform into a global literary phenomenon having hosted nearly 2000 speakers and welcoming over a million book-lovers from across India and the globe.
At this exciting and upcoming digital series, eminent author and advocate Abhinav Chandrachud and well-known journalist Pragya Tiwari will be in conversation on the devastating Bombay bubonic plague epidemic of 1896 and its repercussions today.
Former politician and author Bruno Maçães will speak about our transformed circumstances and the lessons learnt from America, China and Europe at a session on our past, present and future, and what the rebirth of these nations could mean for the world and global affairs.
Freedom of thought is a basic human right which protects individual thought and conscience in every human being. In conversation with writer and broadcaster Bee Rowlatt, Baroness Helena Kennedy will explore the need to protect the “forum internum” - our private mental space - from the incursions of digital technology - at a session titled “Freedom of Thought”.
Writer, politician and public intellectual Shashi Tharoor and President of Observer Research Foundation Samir Saran,, co-authors of the recent The New World Disorder and the India Imperative, will be in conversation and will share their views on the current crisis the world is going through. Their session will build a necessary narrative on the new realities that confront us today.
“Walls and Bridges” will be a session on dystopian fiction and its increasingly real and uncanny presence in our lives in which Prayaag Akbar, author of 'Leila' (which was adapted into a Netflix series), and Amrita Tripathi, author of 'The Sibius Knot' will share their views.
Namita Gokhale, writer, publisher and Co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, said, “Book lovers are never truly alone - not when we have books, and each other. JLF has always affirmed the spirit of community. We believe that these testing times are also the moments in which we need to interrogate and make sense of our world, through books and ideas, debate and dialogue, music and philosophy, science and the arts. JLF, which has always been a platform that celebrates the spirit of human connection, is now ready to go straight into hearts and minds and homes. Our timely new initiative, ‘Brave New World’ will provide an important new resource for our extended JLF family across the world.”
Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts who produce the Jaipur Literature Festival said,“ JLF continues to be a platform for ideas, introspection and innovation by celebrating the word and sharing each other’s stories. JLF's Brave New World is an initiative to look ahead and envision a better future for mankind.”
The initial sessions of the series will run on the official social media platforms of the Festival and will be free and open to all. Going forward, attendees can access sessions on the official website of Jaipur Literature Festival by registering on the website. There will be live question and answer sessions at the end of every session with the audience.
