10 Jaipur Lit Fest Speakers Not to Miss in 2017

It’s not presumptuous to say that the Jaipur Literature Festival is one of the greatest literary shows around. With 10 years of history to its credit, the festival places eminent writers, thinkers, historians, poets, business leaders, entertainers, politicians and humanitarians from all over the world on the stage, in an event that anyone can have access to. It is indeed the largest free event of its kind that has hosted 1300 speakers and has welcomed over 1.2 million book lovers.

An incomparable melting pot of great thoughts, thinkers and minds, the JLF is back again with a great set of speakers. Here’s our pick of the top 10 speakers, whose oratory performances you should not miss, at JLF in 2017:

Emma Sky, Writer

Author of ‘The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq’, Sky also served in Iraq as an Officer of the British Empire. Currently she teaches Middle East politics at Yale University’s Jackson Institute.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Writer

An award-winning author and writing teacher, she’s best known for her books that often tell stories of Indians creating a life in America. Her work has been translated into 29 languages, while The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart have been made into movies. The Economic Times named her in their list of ‘Twenty Most Influential Global Indian Women’.

Guillermo Rodriguez, Writer & Cultural Activist

Rodriguez is the founding director of Casa de la India, a cultural centre in Spain that promotes Indo-Spanish cultural relations. He is also an avid traveller who lived in India in the 1990s and obtained a PhD in English from the University of Kerala and the University of Valladolid. The author of When Mirrors Are Windows: A View of AK Ramanujan’s Poetics, Rodriguez has also received the Friendship Award from the Government of India for all his work to foster Indo-Spanish cultural relations.

Hyeonseo Lee, Writer & Human Rights Activist

Lee is a North Korean defector who currently lives in Seoul, South Korea, and writes extensively for the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Her memoir, ‘The Girl with Seven Names – A North Korean Defector’s Story’ is about her escape to China and her struggle for freedom – a topic that she has talked about at TED Talks, which has got over 8 million views alone. Lee is writing her second book with other North Korean women in south Korea and working towards starting an NGO called ‘North Star NK’ to help North Korean refugees improve their lives.

Ishion Hutchinson, Poet

He is the award-winning author of two poetry collections, ‘Far District’ and ‘House of Lords and Commons’; contributing editor of literary journals; and, an Assistant Professor of English at Cornell University.

Kunga Tenzin Dorji, Journalist, Broadcaster & Musician

A freelance journalist who received the Jigme Singye Wangchuck Prestigious Journalism Award in 2016, Dorji is also a script writer, narrator, talk show host, actor and one of Bhutan’s top notch rock musician. What could be more interesting than witnessing him unplugged on the stage?

Manju Kapur, Writer

Kapur’s first book, ‘Difficult Daughters’ won the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Novel, while her other books including ‘A Married Woman’ were shortlisted for various literary awards. ‘Brothers’ is her recent novel, and ‘Shaping the World: Women Writers on Themselves’, is an anthology that she has edited.

Mark Tully, Writer, Journalist & Broadcaster

Tully, a former BBC bureau chief, is well-known for his many books about India - No Full Stops in India, Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi’s Last Battle, India in Slow Motion, India’s Unending Journey, Non-Stop India and Heart of India. He currently presents ‘Something Understood’, a popular BBc Radio 4 programme, and will be publishing his second book for short stories soon.

Rachel Dwyer, Film Historian & Writer

Dwyer, who is the Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at SOAS at University of London, has researched and written extensively about the various nuances of Indian cinema. From film sets, locations and costumes to stars and their families to how the emotions are depicted in quirky ways in Bollywood movies, her books, essays and articles bring out the essence of Indian cinema.

Neelima Adhar Dalmia, Writer

Dalmia’s first book ‘Father Dearest: The Life and Times of RK Dalmia’, published in 2003 made her famous as the ‘daredevil family chronicler’ because of some of the fiercely guarded family secrets that she’d shared in her book. ‘Merchants of Death’ was her second book, while ‘The Secret Diary of Karsturba’ is her third. All successful and well received!

With this sneak-peak at the list of eminent speakers in the 2017 JLF, get rearing to go to an event that people from across India and the world are flocking to every single year.