JLF releases second list of speakers for 15th edition

Turkish bestselling novelist Elif Shafak, Hollywood actor-writer Rupert Everett, award-winning Srilankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka and eminent Jamaican poet Kei Miller are among the 25 names featuring on the Jaipur Literature Festival's (JLF) second list announced on Thursday.

Touted as the world's largest free literary event, the festival, now in its 15th edition, expected to see participation by over 180 authors, thinkers, politicians and popular culture icons across the world, will host sessions offline from January 28 to February 1 and virtual till its closure on February 6, 2022.

It will be held at the new venue of Hotel Clarks Amber, Jaipur.

Giving the festival a diverse flavour, the second speaker list include names like award-winning British poet Ruth Padel, Booker prize shortlisted author Monica Ali and David Mitchell, British archaeologist David Wengrow, and British nature writer Robert Macfarlane.

''Our second list of speakers unfurls to provide a further glimpse into the rich diversity of voices to be platformed at Jaipur Literature Festival 2022. We are proud to present writers and thinkers, dreamers and doers, from across languages, cultures and continents,'' said Namita Gokhale, writer and co-director of JLF.

Also featured on the second list are politician-author Jai Ram Ramesh, British historian and biographer Andrew Lownie, actor-author Sonali Bendre and Nandana Dev Sen, poet Akhil Katyal and K Satchidanandan, American academic Maya Jasanoff and writer-journalist Anindita Ghose.

The list continues with bestselling author Manu Pillai, Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar recipient author Tanuj Solanki, Bangladeshi journalist Mahfuz Anam, art historian Vidya Dehejia, engineer-author Naushad D Forbes, journalist-filmmaker Vinod Kapri, writer-publisher Ritu Menon and novelist Saikat Majumdar.

''We are coming back with a truly spectacular line up of literary superstars from across the world. In fiction we have this year's Booker winner, the great Damon Galgut, his predecessors Monica Ali & DBC Pierre, Pullizer winner Jonathan Franzen and Turkish superstar Elif Shafak,'' said William Dalrymple, historian and co-director of JLF.

''We have Rob Macfarlane on nature writing, Rupert Everett on Hollywood, Vidya Dehejia on Chola bronzes. We also have a special focus on archaeology and ancient history: Cat Jarman on the Vikings, David Wengrove on the Dawn of Everything and many more,'' he added.

Like previous editions, the ninth edition of the Jaipur BookMark (JBM), a platform for publishers, literary agents, writers, translators, translation agencies and booksellers from across the world, will run parallel to the festival.

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