Star-studded Jaipur fest ends

JAIPUR: And the Jaipur literature festival came to an end. But not before a prize for South Asian literature was instituted on Saturday. The award,

beginning 2011, will be worth $50,000. An advisory panel that includes British parliamentarian Meghnad Desai, journalist Tina Brown, literary agent David Godwin, author Nayantara Sehgal and publisher Urvashi Butalia will decide on the jury every year.

The festival's final day had several other highlights. Hanif Kureishi, English playwright of half-Pakistani origin, engaged in a sparkling conversation with writer Amitava Kumar, generously peppered with one-liners and repartees.

"If you write a book and don't get a bad reaction from your family, you've failed," said Kureishi, who started his career as a writer of pornography before making a name for himself with My Beautiful Laundrette. On a more serious note, he said that one's "experiences" before becoming a writer are like "gold dust" or "capital" from which an author draws stories.

At other spots and other times, short stories, Rajasthani literature, detective fiction and the future of publishing were discussed. Shobha De spoke about her upcoming book "Sethji" and Mumbai politics. A group of Sindhi writers discussed displacement and the slowly disappearing Sindhi culture, language, identity and diet even.

The five-day long festival —- the biggest of its kind in Asia —- had over 500 journalists from local, national and international media visiting, said festival producer Sanjoy K. Roy. The number of people who walked into Diggi Palace and registered was about 22,000 by Sunday afternoon but then, not everyone who came registered. "The total would've been about 27,000," said Roy.

"As a city Jaipur has bought into this event," says Roy. There was a Nobel Laureate (Wole Soyinka), Booker-winning authors (Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright), Pulitzer-winning journalists (Steve Coll, Lawrence Wright) and even a Somalia-born Dutch screenwriter with a price upon her head: Ayaan Hirsi Ali. And they were available for meetings, smilingly signing autographs and one evening, Ali Sethi and Amit Chaudhuri even sang. Add to that a series of superb shows held at The Times of India Crest Experience Music Stage. Things don't get more happening in Jaipur. Locals, with a keen sense of something momentous on in their city, poured in by the thousands as did people from unlikely parts of Rajasthan — Tonk and Bikaner. One bunch of literature students came all the way from Bangalore.

"The festival is doing a lot for those who want to read here," says Priyanka Malhotra, director, Full Circle, participating for the first time. "It's pulled in a lot of authors. This has also meant that their books are also getting imported into the country," she says. One kid wanted the whole set of Roald Dahl's books and another wanted the stall opened at 9:30 in the morning. Malhotra's customers have told her they don't get all the books they want in Jaipur. "The excitement to read is there but access isn't," she said.