New Delhi, Oct 21 (UNI) The annual ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) announced the first list of speakers for its 12th edition, which will take place from January 24-28, 2019 at Diggi Palace Hotel in Jaipur.



Described as the 'greatest literary show on Earth', the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is a sumptuous feast of ideas.

The past decade has seen it transform into a global literary phenomenon having hosted nearly 2000 speakers and welcoming over a million book lovers from across India and the globe.



The Festival’s core values remain unchanged: to serve as a democratic, non-aligned platform offering free and fair access.



'The first list of 30 speakers include--Alexander McCall Smith, best known for his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, art curator Amin Jaffer, whose prolific career includes his present role as Senior Curator of the Al Thani Collection, an encyclopaedic holding of more than 6,000 works of art, and positions including senior curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and International Director of Asian Art at Christie’s; André Aciman, a memoirist, essayist and New York Times bestselling novelist whose 2017 novel 'Call Me by Your Name' was adapted into a widely acclaimed film; Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times bestselling author of six works of fiction, including the 2018 Pulitzer Prize winning novel 'Less',' a statement of JLF said on Saturday.

'The speakers include--Anish Kapoor, one of the most influential sculptors working today with major permanent commissions to his credit including 'Cloud Gate in Chicago’s Millennium Park' and Orbit in Queen Elizabeth Park in London; Anuradha Roy, author of An Atlas of Impossible Longing, 'The Folded Earth' and 'Sleeping on Jupiter', which won the DSC Prize for Fiction 2016 and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015; Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, award-winning and bestselling novelist, poet, activist and teacher of writing at the University of Houston,' it said.



'Another Pulitzer winner on the list includes Colson Whitehead, author of nine books of fiction and non-fiction, including The Underground Railroad, a number one New York Times bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award,' it said.

The Festival will also welcome Silicon Valley-based classicist Donna Zuckerberg, founder and Editor-in-Chief of Eidolon, a prize-winning online Classics magazine, and author of Not All Dead White Men: Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age as well as Germaine Greer, writer, academic and critic widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of our time.



'The list continues with widely acclaimed British novelist and journalist Hari Kunzru, author of five novels, including 'The Impressionist' and 'White Tears', a 2008 Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library, a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow and a 2015 Fellow of the American Academy in Berlin and since 2014, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature; Jeremy Paxman, one of Britain’s best-known journalists and author of nine books, previously anchorman of Newsnight, the BBC’s nightly news analysis programme and now presenter of the University Challenge,' it said.



'There's also Malayalam fiction-writer and columnist N S Madhavan, novelist, short story writer, playwright and satirist Narendra Kohli, a leading figure in Hindi writing; Stegner Fellow at Stanford University NoViolet Bulawayo, the first black African woman and first Zimbabwean to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for her debut novel, 'We Need New Names'; Tamil author, scholar and literary chronicler Perumal Murugan and astrophysicist and Professor at Yale, Priyamvada Natarajan, a recipient of many awards and honours and author of the critically acclaimed 'Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas' that reveal the cosmos,' the statement said.



The list rounds up with Indian herpetologist and wildlife conservationist Rom Whitaker, founder of the Madras Snake Park, The Andaman and Nicobar Environment Trust (ANET), and the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust; English actor, writer and director Rupert Everett, best known for his Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated role in 'My Best Friend’s Wedding' and his directorial debut 'The Happy Prince'.



The Festival will open as usual with its B2B arm, Jaipur Book Mark (JBM), now in its sixth edition, with a full day of programming on January 23 at Diggi Palace followed by sessions at a dedicated JBM venue at the Festival Hub from the January 24-26.

JBM continues to provide a platform for publishers, literary agents, translation agencies and writers to meet, talk business deals and listen to major industry players from across the world.



Namita Gokhale, writer, publisher and co-director of the ZEE JLF, said, 'The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival continues to be one of the most important and transformative forums anywhere to showcase books, writers and ideas. It has been a year of many upheavals and changes in the struggle for gender equity, and our programming will reflect these issues and concerns. We also have a special emphasis on science, the scientific temper, speculative fiction, as well as artificial intelligence and what the future might hold for our planet. Looking forward to Jaipur in January as the 2019 edition returns with its own special brand of magic, whimsy and intellectual rigour.'



William Dalrymple, writer, historian and co-director of the ZEE JLF, said, "In 2019 we'll be fielding the strongest Jaipur line up ever, an unrivalled literary First Eleven of remarkable poets and acclaimed novelists, historians and biographers, thinkers and dreamers, travellers and critics, actors and screenwriters, genii and major league prize winners. It’s an astonishing line up and I can't wait for the 24th of January to see it all become a reality.'



Sanjoy K Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts who produce the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, said, 'As we wait to celebrate another milestone year of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, we look forward to the infectious energy of intellectual debate and the dynamism that charges the Festival's atmosphere and comes from a mingling of celebrated minds, diverse perspectives, and heightened cultural experiences. What is heartening is that this incredible global phenomenon that the Festival has evolved into is still deeply rooted in its core identity as a completely accessible and democratic platform.'



The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival sets literary conversations, debates and dialogue against the backdrop of built and cultural heritage including curated art installations, cultural evenings at heritage venues like the Amber Fort and Hawa Mahal and the Jaipur Music Stage, which runs parallel to the Festival, every evening.



While entry to the Festival is free and open to all, attendees can choose to purchase Delegate Packages, which offer a special experience of the Festival and will take them on a compelling cultural journey.





UNI PY SY 1534