The stage is set for the Jaipur Literature festival with the all decked-up Diggi Palace ready to welcome writers and book lovers to the annual jamboree's tenth edition beginning tomorrow.
The festival will begin with addresses by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and renowned poet-lyricist Gulzar.
Touted as the world's largest free literary festival, this year's edition is themed on "The Freedom to Dream: India at 70" and will see over 250 authors, thinkers, politicians and popular culture icons engaging in stimulating discussions and sessions.
Apart from Raje and Gulzar, American poet Anne Waldman and spiritual writer Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev will also inaugurate the five-day event.
The opening day will see Sadhguru, Founder of Isha Foundation, in conversation with festival director Sanjoy Roy, during which he will discuss his latest book "Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy".
The literary carnival will also see participation of Booker-winning authors such as Paul Beatty (2016), Richard Flanagan (2014) and Alan Hollinghurst (2004), besides Lebanese-American writer and statistician Nassim Nicolas Taleb and regular attendees like Javed Akhtar and Shashi Tharoor.
JLF is no stranger to controversy and eyebrows have been raised even before its began with the inclusion of RSS ideologues Dattatrya Hosabale and Manmohan Vaidya in the guest list.
However, Roy, one of the organisers of the event, defended the controversial decision, saying the festival stands for freedom of thought and is open to all ideologies.
"The festival has always been inclusive and welcomed plurality in opinion and often opposing viewpoints, to be expressed without discrimination. This is neither the first nor the last instance where we have welcomed speakers from the right, left and centre.
"For dialogue to be meaningful, we must have representation from all points of view. For a decade, the Jaipur Literature Festival has stood for diversity of ideas, languages, nationalities and subjects. The 2017 edition is no different in featuring multiple voices and viewpoints across genres collectively on one platform," an earlier statement by the organisers had said.
Elaborate security measures have also been made, with the final drills taking place to ensure no untoward incident takes place during the marquee event.
The festival will come to a close on January 23.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
