Source : Firstpost
Author Markus Zusak (of The Book Thief fame) and Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan are among the many notable figures in literature and science who will be present at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur on the second day of the annual literary extravaganza. The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival that kicked off yesterday is set to go into Day 2 with a diverse group of panelists and conversations that range from philosophy to science to novels and history.
The second day of the fest will kick off with a discussion between the former member of parliament and the National General Secretary and National Spokesman of Janata Dal (United), Pavan K Varma and Makarand Paranjpe, on the philosopher and thinker Adi Shankaracharya at Charbagh. Simultaneously, the author of Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire, Ira Mukhoty and historian Ruby Lal will engage in a conversation with Parvati Sharma as part of the J Paul Getty Trust Series and Women Uninterrupted Series on Empress Nur Jahan and the Women of the Mughal Empire. The Mughal tent will host a discussion at the same time on the conflict in Egypt, titled The Battle for Egypt: Dispatches from the Revolution, with the Egyptian writers Ahdaf Soueif, Yasmine El Rashidi and filmmaker Omar Hamilton, moderated by Max Rodenbeck.
Activists Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander will also engage in a conversation with Urvashi Butalia titled The Right to Know. Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri is also set to attend the event this year and will discuss Where Does Fiction Come From? alongside Sebastian Barry, Tania James and the author of Sacred Games, Vikram Chandra, along with Chandrahas Choudhary.
The fest will also feature Zusak in conversation with author Rana Dasgupta in the afternoon session, In Search of Miracles and historian Sven Beckert will engage in a conversation titled The Empire of Cotton with Patrick French. The British writer will host yet another talk with the Italian journalist Andrea di Robilant, British biographer Jenny Uglow and author and professor Zachary Leader, On Literary Biographies, at Samvad on the second day.
Ramakrishnan will discuss the Gene Machine and the Culture of Science with astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan, in keeping with the festival’s aim to engage in more conversations on science, technology and artificial intelligence to match step with younger audiences. At the same time, the French political scientist Christophe Jaffrelote, author Ornit Shani and former election commissioner of India SY Quraishi will be in conversation with Nikhil Kumar on India’s upcoming elections in India Decides: The Great March of Democracy.
Also part of the second day of Jaipur’s literary carnival is a talk on translations moderated by Anupama Raju with a panel full of essayists, writers and critics, including Daniel Hahn, Manjushree Thapa and Pushpesh Pant. Towards the close of the day, audiences can also attend on the front lawn a conversation with the talk show host Suhasini Haider on South Asia: Walls and Bridges with Hussain Haqqani, a journalist from Pakistan, Thapa and Prasenjit Basu among others.
After back to back sessions featuring eminent authors, journalists and educators, the second day of the annual literature festival will draw to a close with discussions with several prominent figures such as Amitabha Baghchi, Jeremy Paxman, Malashri Lal and a panel discussion with Dan Jones, Richard Evans and Lal, to name a few titled In Defence of History.
The Zee Jaipur Literature Festival will go on from 24 January to 28 January 2019 at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur,
