Over 350 speakers to participate in JLF 2019

Over 350 speakers to participate in JLF 2019

Namita Gokhale

New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) An impressive line-up of 350 artistes and public intellectuals, including the winners of several major literary awards, will participate in the upcoming edition of the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival from January 24 to 28, 2019 in the Pink City, the organisers said on Monday.

The list includes Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan, author of 'Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome' which unlocks the mysteries of the gene-reading molecule; Ben Okri, writer of Man-Booker-winning 'The Famished Road'; Colson Whitehead, author of six novels and winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer for 'Underground Railroad'; and Priyamvada Natarajan, a cosmologist noted for her work in mapping dark matter, dark energy, and black holes, a Professor at Yale.

"JLF has, through the last decade, helped articulate and foster a unique literary and creative culture across the world. Our programme remains determinedly diverse and multilingual, with over 16 Indian languages, 12 international languages, and almost 30 nationalities represented at Jaipur this January," said author and festival co-director Namita Gokhale.

She emphasized that the 2019 edition will bring to fore the importance of science, genetics, astronomy and astrophysics, artificial intelligence, and what the future holds for the planet.

"We also explore music, poetry and the arts, and delve into fiction, short stories, adaptations and translations. We examine different facets of myth, memory and religion. We interrogate rural distress, think aloud about migration and identity, and reflect on the ongoing struggles for gender equity, from the landmark judgement on section 377 to the tumultuous watershed of the #metoo movement," added Gokhale.

Diplomat Navtej Sarna in 'The Post American World' will elaborate on how the growth of India, China, Brazil, Russia and Africa is generating a new landscape and will soon push the West out of its position of complacence and hegemony to one that recognises this seismic power shift.

Sarna will be joined by Kishwar Desai, author of 'Jallianwala Bagh, 1919' to seek the backstory of that fateful day of April 13, 1919 a century after; and Ira Mukhoty, author of 'Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire', will discuss Nur Jehan and the other indomitable Mughal women who in many ways defined that era.

The annual festival is organized by Teamwork Arts, which is headed by Sanjoy K. Roy, and produces several such festivals in India and abroad. Acclaimed historian and writer William Dalrymple is co-director of the festival along with Gokhale.

--IANS

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