Top award-winning foreign writers to attend Jaipur lit fest

A star-studded lineup of international writers, including Commonwealth Prize winner Aminatta Forna from Sierra Leone, Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson and Orange Prize winners Linda Grant and Madeline Miller, will lend glamour to the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival Feb 24-28.

Commenting on the international line-up Friday, festival co-director and historical novelist William Dalrymple said: "It is going to be an absolutely extraordinary five days and I only wish it were possible to clone oneself so that one could attend five sessions simultaneously."

Dalrymple said the "non-fiction list was especially strong this year".

"We have no less than three winners of the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction - Frank Dikkoter on Mao, Wade Davis on Everest and Orlando Figes on Stalin's purges - while Pulitzer winner Andrew Solomon will speak on his remarkable new book, 'Far From the Tree'", he added.

In a communique, the organisers said the festival will also introduce Indian audiences and readers to noted British historical novelist Lawrence Norfolk and three of Britain's most popular literary writers - Sebastian Faulks, Deborah Moggach and Zoe Heller - whose award-winning books have been adapted into the highly acclaimed movies "Birdsong", "The Exotic Marigold Hotel" and "Notes on a Scandal".

The festival will also host Abraham Verghese - one of the leading writers of Indian origin in the US and two of the "most respected novelists in the Arab world, Ahdaf Soueif and Tahar Ben Jalloun".

It will also bring back South Asian sensations Nadeem Aslam and Mohammad Hanif and will introduce Jamil Ahmad, along with Ariel Dorfman, a playwright and author from Chile.

"From Harvard, we have Diana Eck, whose book 'India: A Sacred Geography' has been one of the hits of the past year, philosopher Michael Sandel, who will bring his popular BBC Radio 4 series 'The Public Philosopher,' to Jaipur and leading cultural theorist Homi Bhabha".

Beside the international stars, the festival will host literature in 17 Indian languages as well. - IANS