The sixth international edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival commenced at the British Library here on Friday, with a debut at Belfast in Northern Ireland planned next week.
The festival will then travel to Belfast as its second stop in the UK to explore themes that bind India and Northern Ireland, both nations deeply affected by issues around border and partition and the concepts of identity and migration.
"This time there will be an edition also in Belfast, which is at the initiative of the city. It would certainly help bring a new facet and a new element into this interesting exchange that we have between our two countries," said Ruchi Ghanashyam, the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, at a launch ceremony for JLF in London.
"And, in London, what better place to have a literary festival than the repository of all literature and books and manuscripts like the British Library...We are enriched by the tradition of reading and the tradition of exchange in the field of literature that has existed between India and Britain," she said.
This year's festival line-up includes an evening at the British Museum in London and will cover a series of debates and discussions, opening with a keynote address by Victoria and Albert Museum Director Tristram Hunt, the author of 'Ten Cities That Made An Empire'.
"We're back for our sixth edition in London with a colourful bandwagon of books, ideas and dialogue that capture our imaginations and explore the dynamic and challenging times we live in," said Sanjoy K Roy, Managing Director of Festival producer Teamwork Arts.
"ZEE JLF at the British Library will look at history as well as current affairs, explore scientific works and the creative worlds of cinema, literature and poetry," he said.
The international edition of the literature festival, which began its life in Rajasthan, is set to travel to the US, Canada and Australia later in the year, with the organisers defining the core concept as sharing South Asia's unique literary heritage and fusing it with local narratives.
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