Review 2008
DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2008 brought together world-class writers and artists from across continents, cultures, forms and genres including: Ian McEwan, Christopher Hampton, Donna Tartt, Dev Anand, Aparna Sen, Manil Suri, Indra Sinha, Uday Prakash, Nayantara Sahgal, Kunal Basu, Namita Devidayal, young poets Jeet Thayil, Tishani Doshi, Sampurna Chattarji and graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee, Robin Robertson, newcomers Ambarish Satwik, Sonia Faleiro.
The festival also hosted writers from Pakistan, Moni Mohsin, Kamila Shamsie and Shahbano Bilgrami. There were more than 100 authors attending the festival with a healthy mixture of the east with the west.
KEY FEATURES
• The creative writing and painting competitions advertised through radio, which attracted a large number of entries.
• Film screening of Atonement and In Conversation with Ian Mc Ewan & Christopher Hampton.
• Reading by John Berendt and lunch by Ritu Dalmia.
• The Intelligence Square debate with leading luminaries from the social and industrial sector.
• In Conversation with Ian McEwan.
• In Conversation with Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan.
• Imagining Pakistan.
• In Conversation with Fatima Bhutto.
The festival also had a host of evening concerts. Over the 5 days we had Anoushka Shankar perform with Karsh Kale, Abdullah Manzoor Niazi from Pakistan- a renowned qawal from the Indo-Pak subcontinent, Paban Das Baul, a master of the dubki (a small tambourine) and a hypnotic vocalist, Rajasthan roots – a collective of folk musicians which promotes the performing arts of Rajasthan, by bringing folk to a multicultural platform, creating contemporary folk music, appealing to varied musical tastes. Susheela Raman and Sam Mills performed exclusively for the festival.
ATTENDEES
Over 2500 people attended the many sessions and workshops during the course of the festival. The USP of the festival was that it was accessible to the general public at no cost. Capacity press attendance generating over 1 million pounds of publicity in India alone.
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