Why JLF is forever young

This year, my favourite session at JLF was one that wasn't even on the programme, featuring the librarian of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

It rained one day during the Jaipur Literature Festival. I expected the worst; I expected rain-sodden lawns, an empty venue, drenched writers and ruined books. But nothing of the sort happened. Thousands braved the rain to stand — some without umbrellas — and listened to writers that they had perhaps never heard of earlier. Everything ran on time, no venues were evacuated — in spite of the fact that almost all of them are in shamianas — and the books were safe. 

The contrast from a similar rainy day almost a decade ago was stark. The books tent had flooded, talks