ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2019: Pulitzer Prize-winners Colson Whitehead, Andrew Sean Greer to speak on Day 1

The annual Kumbh Mela of literature at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur is set to kick off on 24 January and thousands already have gotten in line to get the best seats and catch the most colourful discussions this season has to offer. The 2019 edition of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) will open with the inaugural session, Imagining Our Worlds, on the front lawn of the palace with an address by co-director Namita Gokhale and Sanjoy K Roy accompanied by Ruth Padel’s poetry reading of The First Cell on Earth. Keeping in tune with the focus of the 12th edition of the annual extravaganza — all things science — the keynote address at the inaugural session will be delivered by the structural biologist and Nobel laureate, Sir Venki Ramakrishnan on The Role of Science in Today’s World. On the morning of the first day of the JLF, the deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot and journalist Sreenivasan Jain will explore the topic Democracy, Freedom and the Political Process: Looking to the Future. Presented by Dainik Bhaskar, filmmaker Pradip Krishen will host the Norwegian novelist, scriptwriter and children’s author, Maja Lunde in a session entitled, Imagine a World without Bees, that will discuss the prevalent issue of the reduced population of bees, crucial for pollination, and its impact on the environment. [caption id=“attachment_5935411” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Author Colson Whitehead of The Underground Railroad, Germaine Greer of The Female Eunuch among speakers on Day 1 of the Jaipur Literature Festival 2019. Images via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] One of the leading voices of the feminist movement, the author of works such as The Female Eunuch, Shakespeare’s Wife and The Whole Woman, Australian writer Germaine Greer is also scheduled to attend the 2019 edition of the one-stop literary delight for audiences across the country. Journalist Bee Rowlatt will engage in a discussion with Greer on the afternoon of the first day in the session, Beyond the Female Eunuch. _Also read: Zee Jaipur Literature Festival 2019: Your guide to the authors and must-attend events at this 12th edition_ Also in the line-up of the festival is the panel discussion presented by Nordic Lights, titled Reading and Conversations, comprising a delightful mix of writers such as the Icelandic author Einar Karason (Devil’s Island) and Norwegian writer Hanne Orstavik, among others, in conversation with Margit Walso. The discussions, Woman in the Window — author AJ Finn in conversation with Amrita Tripathi,  So Many Books, So Little Time — Urvashi Butalia with Juergen Boos and How to be Human — Ruby Wax with the celebrated writer Jerry Pinto, are among some of the other highlights of the first day of the literature festival. [caption id=“attachment_5935421” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The line-up of the first day of the Jaipur Literature Festival also includes the deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot and the popular novelist Anita Nair.[/caption] The last of the events on Day 1 include a conversation between the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead (The Underground Railroad) and writer Kanishk Tharoor. To be held at Charbagh immediately afterward is the book launch of Namita Waikar’s work on our agrarian crisis, The Long March, by veteran activist and founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Aruna Roy. The author, who is the managing editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI) will also engage in a conversation with Mahesh Rao at JLF 2019. A talk by Christopher de Hamel introduced by Dan Jones on Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts is also a part of Day 1 of the festival_._ The literature festival’s first day will draw to a close with sessions such as the conversation, Writing About Writing, with yet another Pulitzer awardee, Andrew Sean Greer and the author of Eating Wasps , Anita Nair, moderated by Prayaag Akbar and Autumn in Venice: Ernest Hemingway and his Last Muse, Andrea di Robilant in conversation with Carlo Pizzati, a part of The J Paul Getty Trust Series. The Zee Jaipur Literature Festival will go on from 24 January to 28 January 2019 at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan. More details here.