Jaipur Literature Fest From Jan 20–24; Fatima Bhutto, Gulzar, Ben Okri to Attend

The Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 will take place at Diggi Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan from Jan 20–24, 2012. The festival is known as the Kumbh Mela of Indian and international writing.

Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto, Sri Lankan-born novelist Michael Ondaatje, New Yorker editor David Remnick, and Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri are among the big names who will attend the festival.

The festival will focus on subjects like vegetarianism, Bhakti and Sufi traditions, Arab Spring, Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and Anna Hazare, writing from conflict zones, theatre and related issues.

It will play host to over 200 speakers from across the globe who will debate, discuss and read from their works. Joseph Lelyveld, writer of a controversial book on Gandhi, is likely to attend the festival while Helen Fielding of the Bridget Jones fame has confirmed her participation.

Some of the other prominent authors who have confirmed their presence include Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Prasoon Joshi, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Hari Kunzru, Jamaica Kincaid, James Schapiro, Jason Burke, Mahesh Dattani, Pavan Varma, Piyush Daiya, Purushottam Agrawal, Rahul Bhattacharya, Ranjit Hoskote, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Rabi Thapa, Tahmima Anam, Tom Stoppard, Thant Myint-U and Zoe Heller.