By Editors
As regulars at JLF, we've been witnessing literary genius year after year at the festival, and from the first release looks of it, this year promises to be as grand, if not grander. The crew behind the world's largest free literary festival announced the first line up of 77 authors confirmed to participate in the 2015 edition. Like every year, the festival will take place over the last weekend of January, from the 21st to the 25th, in Diggi Palace, Jaipur.
This edition of the festival {its eighth} is gearing up to play host to Nobel Laureate Sir V.S Naipaul, Man Booker Prize recipient Eleanor Catton, novelist Hanif Kureishi, and celebrated American travel writer Paul Theroux, along with some of India's best, including Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh, Man Booker Prize nominee Neel Mukherjee, best-selling novelist Amish Tripathi, author and translator Arshia Sattar, and universally loved German children's author Cornelia Funke.
As for themes and areas of focus, the 2015 festival will pay attention to a number of themes running parallel across sessions and panel discussions. To narrow it down and give you some direction, there will be a strong emphasis on poetry, as well as celebrating South Asia through all genres of writing, and a special strand of sessions showcasing and celebrating the literature of the Seven Sister States of North-East India. Taking a cue from last years theme of Crime and Punishment's popularity, this festival will look at writing associated with the Seven Deadly Sins, as well as continuing a second strand of the Women Uninterrupted Series.
Once again, staying true its country of origin, the festival will champion Indian language literature with the great Hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla, Bangla writer Sangeeta Bandopadhyay, Marathi Dalit woman writer Urmila Pawar, and the Girish Karnad.
Here, a list of the 77 authors confirmed to be participating. Stay tuned for as and when they add participating authors. Yes, we'll tell you! As for registrations, they are officially open for the 2015 edition, click here to score yourself a place, and to keep up with festival scheduling and happenings.
1. Adam LeBor
2. Ahmed Rashid
3. Akhil Sharma
4. Alberto Manguel
5. Alexander Kozlov
6. Alexis Wright
7. Ali Cobby Eckerman
8. Amish Tripathi
9. Amrita Tripathi
10. Anatole Lieven
11. Arshia Sattar
12. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
13. Ashwin Sanghi
14. Bettany Hughes
15. Charles Glass
16. Chetan Bhagat
17. Christina Lamb
18. Christos Tsiolkas
19. Clare Wright
20. Cornelia Funke
21. Damon Galgut
22. Daud Ali
23. Deepti Kapoor
24. Devdutt Pattanaik
25. Eleanor Catton
26. Elizabeth Gilbert
27. Esther David
28. Fady Joudah
29. Gilbert King
30. Girish Karnad
31. Hanif Kureishi
32. Helon Habila
33. Jorie Graham
34. Kalyan Ray
35. Kate Summerscale
36. Kedarnath Singh
37. Kevin Powers
38. Laila Lalami
39. Linda Colley
40. Mahua Manjhi
41. Maria Chaudhuri
42. Mark Gevisser
43. Mark Haddon
44. Meena Kandasamy
45. Mihir Sharma
46. Molly Aitken
47. Narayana Murthy
48. Nasreen Munni Kabir
49. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
50. Navtej Sarna
51. Neel Mukherjee
52. Nicholson Baker
53. Paul Theroux
54. Peter Bergen
55. Peter Frankopan
56. Peter M. Sacks
57. Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Burman
58. Prashant Jha
59. Raj Kamal Jha
60. Rajdeep Sardesai
61. Rakshanda Jalil
62. Rohan Murty
63. Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi
64. Sahar Delijani
65. Salima Hashmi
66. Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
67. Sheldon Pollock
68. Simon Armitage
69. Somy Roy
70. Sudha Murthy
71. Sushama Deshpande
72. Tom Holland
73. Tshering Tashi
74. Urmila Pawar
75. V.S. Naipaul
76. Vijay Seshadri
77. Vinod Kumar Shukla