Click to play videoJaipur: The Jaipur Literature Festival kicked off on Wednesday, and the organisers promise it's going to be quite the star-studded cultural affair. Day 1 of this five-day Literature Festival kicked off with the inauguration by the Governor of Rajasthan.
The highlights of Day 1 included an informal session with the inimitable Vikram Seth, of A Suitable Boy fame, speaking candidly on life and his family. And keeping it in the family was his mother, Leila, the first woman chief justice of India to discuss her memoirs.
"Everybody's invited in their own capacity. Vikram tells me I haven't come as his mother, but as an independent author. And my daughter's come as a film-maker," says Leila Seth.
Writer and Journalist, Sonia Faleiro adds, "I think having Vikram Seth here was extraordinary. It's a measure of how respected the Jaipur Literature Festival has become and he's not just here for the session I moderated this morning, but he's hanging around.People can go up to him and chat with him and get stacks of books signed."
This is one event that's managed to put India and the city of Jaipur on the literary map, globally, with nearly 170 authors attending this year.
Author and Jaipur Literature Festival Director, William Dalrymple says, "You try and do a mix - Vikram Seth, Vikas Swarup, hot from Slumdog Millionaire - and hot news that no one knows for next year, the Pakistani writer Daniyal Muneeuddin. I am just going to introduce him in the session right now. Then there are international names - like Simon Schama who is a huge media star and made narrative history important again. Regionally there is Mohun Bopa with some fabulous regional and vernacular writing."
Vikas Swarup read from his book Q&A, which has been made into the Hollywood blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire.
There's just so many names to look forward to. Day 1 was dominated by the Seths and Vikas Swarup, but there was also Hari Kunzru and a contingent of writers from Pakistan, including Nadeem Aslam and Mohd Hanif.
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