Jaipur Literary Festival and its Global audience

Aarti Betigeri on why all the global celebs – like Salman Rushdie and Oprah Winfrey – were centerpiece in a Literary Fest in Jaipur?  Finally, a literary congregation which has made writing and reading “sexy” and “global”.

The Jaipur Literature Festival had relatively humble beginnings: Its main purpose was to put literature, both in English and local languages, on the radar for Indians.

It seems to have worked.

Now, the festival is widely recognized as a destination for thinkers and writers. Publishers come to scout for talent and writers come looking for book deals. And hundreds of thousands of eyes are on it and watching the books that are discussed there.

It’s recently been described as “the Oscars” of the literary world.