Diggi Palace to digital platform: The popular Jaipur Literature Festival embraces the virtual world to beat the Covid-19 lockdown

The sprawling grounds of the Diggi Palace in Jaipur had been the venue for “greatest literary show on Earth”, the Jaipur Literature Festival, until last year.

However, keeping the present disruptions in mind, the organisers decided to explore the boundless possibilities of the Internet., offering the digital platform as a virtual stage.

“Book lovers are never truly alone - not when we have books, and each other, said Namita Gokhale, writer, publisher and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival.

"JLF has always affirmed the spirit of community. We believe that these testing times are also the moments in which we need to interrogate and make sense of our world, through books and ideas, debate and dialogue, music and philosophy, science and the arts. JLF, which has always been a platform that celebrates the spirit of human connection, is now ready to go straight into hearts and minds and homes. Our timely new initiative, ‘Brave New World’ will provide an important new resource for our extended JLF family across the world.”

At this exciting and upcoming digital series, eminent author and advocate Abhinav Chandrachud and well-known journalist Pragya Tiwari will be in conversation on the devastating Bombay bubonic plague epidemic of 1896 and its repercussions today.

Former politician and author Bruno Maçães will speak about our transformed circumstances and the lessons learnt from America, China and Europe at a session on our past, present and future, and what the rebirth of these nations could mean for the world and global affairs.
 
In conversation with writer and broadcaster Bee Rowlatt, Baroness Helena Kennedy will explore the need to protect the “forum internum” - our private mental space - from the incursions of digital technology - at a session titled “Freedom of Thought”.

Writer, politician and public intellectual Shashi Tharoor and President of Observer Research Foundation Samir Saran, co-authors of the recent The New World Disorder and the India Imperative, will be in conversation and will share their views on the current crisis the world is going through.

“Walls and Bridges” will be a session on dystopian fiction and its increasingly real and uncanny presence in our lives in which Prayaag Akbar, author of 'Leila' (which was adapted into a Netflix series), and Amrita Tripathi, author of 'The Sibius Knot' will share their views.

Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts (a leading production company with roots in the performing arts, social action and the corporate world), said, “JLF continues to be a platform for ideas, introspection and innovation by celebrating the word and sharing each other’s stories. JLF's Brave New World is an initiative to look ahead and envision a better future for mankind."

The initial sessions of the series will run on the official social media platforms of the Festival and will be free and open to all.

Going forward, attendees can access sessions on the official website of Jaipur Literature Festival by registering on the website (www.jaipurliteraturefestival.org)

There will be live question and answer sessions at the end of every session with the audience.