The Jaipur Literature Festival, regarded as the largest free literature festival in the world brings together a pool of talent, from world thinkers to local authors, from Nobel laureates to Man Booker Prize winners. Started in 2006, this festival has slowly acquired a steady audience. Today, more than 15,000 persons attend this five-days event.
This festival gives a great platform to celebrated authors and dignitaries mainly from South East Asia and the rest of the world to interact and have lectures with their audiences. Jaipur Literature Festival provides for a great opportunity for Indian people to acquire great amount of knowledge and build perceptions from the exchange of opinions.
History of the Festival
Started on very modest levels in 2006, by handful authors like William Dalrymple, Shobha De, Namita Gokhale, Hari Kunzu amongst others, saw only a turn up of 100 attendees then. It was only later when more and more authors and other distinguished personalities started attending this event that it got its due recognition. What followed later was a sudden burst in the number of attendees. In just over 10 years, the participation has grown by multiple bounds.
The festival further expanded beyond the bounds of the Diggi Palace in 2005, where it hosted roughly 180 speakers while also having sessions in Clarks Amer, Narain Niwas, special programs in Hawa Mahal and Amber Fort, supported by Rajasthan Tourism.
The 2018 Jaipur Literature Festival was the biggest one yet and saw a turnout of people from different backgrounds – scientists, playwrights, actors, sportsmen, authors, businessmen, marketers, broadcasters, dancers, therapists, civil servants amongst many others. Apart from the usual lectures, debates, book reading sessions and discussions, the festival also had a live music concert by Kailash Kher.
Jaipur Literature Festival in 2019
This year, the festival would be organized at Diggi Palace in Jaipur from 24thJanuary – 28thJanuary 2019. Around 300 speakers are expected to attend the event. Amongst the noted ones is Mithila Raj, the captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team who would be a key attendee and speaker at this year’s festival.
Jaipur Literature Festival Tickets
Jaipur Literature Festival is a free un-ticketed event, but registration for the same is compulsory. However, the Evening Music Sessions at Clarks Amer are ticketed and you need to contact the press office if you want to attend these events.
How to reach
Jaipur is a popular tourist destination in India with excellent connectivity to all major cities and most Tier 2 and 3 cities.
By Air
There are daily direct operational flights to Jaipur from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Jodhpur, Goa amongst others which in turn have good connectivity with major international destinations. Tourists can hire a taxi or bus to the Jaipur Literature Festival, once they get down at the airport.
By Rail
Jaipur is a major station and trains from almost all parts of India have a stopover here. Several trains from Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Alwar, Ajmer, Kota, Bikaner, Jammu, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Kanpur etc. stop here. There are three main junctions for the Jaipur city. These are the main Jaipur station, Gandhinagar, Durgapur. All the trains have a stopover at Jaipur while few also stop at Gandhinagar and Durgapur. Besides these, the amazing luxury train – Palace on Wheels also connects Delhi to all major destinations inside Rajasthan, including Jaipur. After de-boarding at the station, one can hire an autorickshaw, taxi or a bus to Jaipur Literature Festival.
By Road
Jaipur is connected to all major cities across India through a chain of National Highways number 8, 11 and 12 to count a few. Excellent and regular buses of Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSRTC) ply between Delhi and Jaipur with an interval of half an hour. Both AC and Non-AC Volvo are available.
