The Jaipur Literary Festival is the largest free festival of its kind in the world, featuring critically-acclaimed writers representing dozens of nationalities. JLF 2016 included nearly 200 events over the course of the five-day festival; view the complete program with videos here. We’ve selected seven highlights from this iconic event.
1. The Honor Code: Kwame Anthony Appiah introduced by Homi K. Bhabha
The Indian Quarterly Presents the Privacy Series
Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah speaks to Bhabha about the nature of revolutions, arguing that true revolutions are achieved in the long term, through everyday practices, and explores the relationship between honor, shame and cultural revolution.
2. Capital
Thomas Piketty with Sebastian Mallaby, and Arvind Subramanian, moderated by Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Presented by AU Financiers
The Hindi translation of Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-first Century is unveiled for the first time, and the panel discusses the democratization of knowledge as a means to the democratization of the economy, the relationship between capitalism and inequality, and the need for democratic structures to rein in growth.
3. The Global Novel
Margaret Atwood, Colm Toibin, Aleksandar Hemon, David Grossman, Sulaiman Addonia and Sunjeev Sahota moderated by Chiki Sarkar
Presented by ZEE Entertainment
You know it’s an exciting panel when participants question the title of the panel itself in the first five minutes. The panelists also discuss the emergence of the novel as the predominant literary form.
4. Eyeless in Gaza
Omar Barghouti, Molly Crabapple and Laleh Khalili moderated by Jonathan Shainin
A discussion of the 2014 war on Gaza, and the evolution of confinement as a modern military strategy for countries who claim adherence to the rule of law.
5. Chronicles of Exile
Siddhartha Gigoo, Abdourahman A. Waberi and Rita Kothari, moderated by Maina Chawla Singh
This panel examines migration as a multi-faceted phenomenon, including refugees, exile, migration, forced migration, self-image construction as displaced people, and the political overtones of various migrant identities. Participants also discuss the role of time & historical distance from upheaval and migration, as well as the challenges of giving creative form to migrant experiences.
6. Lost in Translation: The Nepal
Kul Chandra Gautam, Jayant Prasad and Mallika Shakya in conversation with Bharat Bhushan
With a focus on the literature of Nepal, panelists discuss the relationship between monarchy and the Maoist insurgency in the civil war, the degree of Maoist commitment to democracy, and the paradox of downtrending Nepalese development along with evidence of improvement in human development indicators.
7. A Booker Bookshelf
Sunjeev Sahota, Anuradha Roy and Marlon James, in conversation with Anjum Hasan
Presented by Amity University
Booker Prize winners discuss their vastly different novels, from Marlon James’s multi-layered account of the failed assassination of Bob Marley, to Anuradha Roy’s Sleeping on Jupiter, an intimate story of human connections in a seaside Indian town. The authors discuss the sense of loss and meaning of belonging for immigrants, as well as the power of personal and historical narratives.