Jaipur Literature Festival kicks off in US

Over 70 eminent authors including those from India gathered today in Boulder for the third-edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) in the US state of Colorado.
The three-day festival beginning today at the prestigious Boulder Public Library examines the human experience through the reflections and imaginations of distinguished contemporary authors from across the globe, organisers said today.
The prominent authors include author-columnist, diplomat and India's Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna; Michael Rezendes from the Boston Globe's famed 'Spotlight' team who exposed the Catholic church scandal and Suki Kim, the only reporter to have gone undercover in North Korea.

Iconic poet Anne Waldman; diplomat and author Vikas Swarup of "Slumdog Millionaire" fame; Christina Lamb author of "The Africa House" and "I Am Malala", co-authored with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai; Emmy Award-winning writer Kayhan Irani and Alberto Ruy-S?nchez, fiction and non-fiction writer, poet and essayist from Mexico City are among other eminent authors attending the festival.
"As the world goes increasingly digital, we find that it is becoming all the more important to keep the love for the written word alive. Today's youth are less likely to spare time to actually sit down and read a book even if it is in the form of a Kindle Edition or an audio podcast," said Sunil Buch, CEO Zee Live and Xee Talent.

In this digital age, it is initiatives like the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival that are helping to revive the passion for the written word amongst the youth and to nurture the spirit of love towards literature, he said.

"Zee JLF at Boulder is a rooted, local festival. An essential, grounded sense of community combines with a deep cosmopolitanism, reaching across oceans and continents and cultures, bridging Jaipur and Boulder," said Namita Gokhale, one of the festival directors.
William Dalrymple, another festival director, said for the third time, they present at Boulder a mini taster platter -- a sort of pocket-sized Jaipur?transplanted from the Aravallis to the Rockies.

"ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is a unique celebration of writing that has grown into something bigger and more wonderful than anything we could ever have hoped for when we first conceived this festival nearly a decade ago," he said.
Zee JLF at Boulder features art and cultural showcases including an exhibition from the awardees of the Ojas Art Award 2017 for traditional Bheel Art from one of the many tribal communities from India.