What can the biggest lit fest in India do for Indian authors? Publisher Chiki Sarkar tells us
Random House’s hottest debut this year is Chinaman, a book that I believe is the great novel on cricket. When the time came to decide when to publish it, the answer was simple — early February so that the author, Shehan Karunatilaka, could make his first appearance at the Jaipur Literature Festival with the press segueing neatly for the cricket World Cup.
Two years ago my author Daniyal Mueenuddin made a similar debut. At the end of JLF, all the papers were clamouring to interview this unknown Pakistani and the advance copies we sent to the festival bookshop were sold out. The rest, as they say, is history. Daniyal won international acclaim and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and it all began at Jaipur. With writers, critics and journalists milling together, a whisper can quickly become buzz. I am hoping that Shehan too will benefit from the Jaipur effect.
JLF is the largest, best-organised literary festival India has had. Its audiences range from social butterflies to academics, school teachers to engineers, and of course most of India’s literati. Last year saw an audience of about 35,000. This year the festival is expecting about 50,000 visitors.
What this means is that for the five days of the festival, authors have a captive audience. For the big-ticket events you need to be grabbing your seat early, but even the smaller events are brimming. The biggest challenge a publisher faces with their authors, most of whom are not famous, is getting them attention. From getting the press to cover them to ensuring a packed book reading, any publisher will tell you it’s hard work. At Jaipur it’s all there, ready and waiting.
To connect writers with an audience is of course the raison d’être of any literary festival. But JLF is also special in another way. More than any lit fest I have attended, it has an air of festivity almost as if you had stumbled into a secret party. This is why some have called it the Woodstock of lit fests. Most visitors are open, in a perfect frame of mind to be struck by someone they have never heard of. The festival is a perfect space for the unknown author to bloom, and this is one of its great strengths.
A recent article in Open has attacked the festival for prioritising big name international authors over the Indian ones. It’s a ridiculous charge. My authors this year include Arunava Sinha, one of the best Bengali translators in the country, Narayan Wagle, whose Palpasa Café was the big hit in Nepal, and Shehan. These aren’t glamorous names. They’re on the list because they reflect the interests and passions of the organisers. In fact one of the striking aspects of Jaipur is that the organisers don’t just invite writers who have recently published a book, unlike most international lit fests, but who have written books they admire.
Because of all this, JLF has become extremely important to publishers. I use JLF to meet people, and I’m not the only one. Many international publishers and agents come through. My old boss, Alexandra Pringle of Bloomsbury Publishing, is often here; über-agent David Godwin makes regular appearances; John Makinson, the global head of Penguin, is coming to this festival.
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Indian writers and professionals related to the field are, thus, also using JLF as a hub. A Bangalore-based author wrote to me asking if we could meet at the festival; a Delhi-based graphic designer wanted to touch base there although we live in the same city. The more staid trade book fairs in the country don’t facilitate these kinds of interactions, Jaipur with its spirit of bonhomie does. It’s fun to attend the festival, so why not couple it with a bit of business?
So this year we’re throwing our first dinner for all our authors attending the festival. Organising a dinner seemed natural, but it also reflects the importance we now give JLF. It’s become the place to throw a party and I hope that it will become a tradition.
Chiki Sarkar is editor-in-chief of Random House India
