- School Outreach by Pratham Books to include renowned geologist Barry Cunliffe, children’s author and actorNandana Sen, acclaimed writer Arshia Sattar, mountaineer Colonel Vishal Ahlawat, storyteller Rituparna Ghosh,journalist Kunga Tenzing Dorji
Jaipur, 14 January: The largest free Literary Festival in the world, the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is one of the most exciting, stimulating platforms for an egalitarian exchange of books and ideas, bringing together some of the greatest thinkers and writers from across the world! From Nobel Laureates, Man Booker prize winners to local language writers and debut novelists, the magical lure of the festival attracts audiences from different parts of the world every year.
A highlight of the demographic population that the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival attracts is the large number of young people who throng to the festival grounds, thirsting to receive from some of the best literary and political minds! Keeping this in focus and hugely aware of their intent to give back to the city that plays host to them, Teamwork Arts, the producers of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, run School Outreach and Youth Outreach programmes every year, parallel to the Festival.
Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts and Producer of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival says, “In any inequitable society it is imperative that knowledge is available free of cost as it alone can bring about social change. At The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival we work with our partners Pratham Books and The Yuva Ekta Foundation to reach out to young people across the economic spectrum and bring to them world-class writers and their ideas.”
School Outreach Programme with Pratham Books
The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival’s School Outreach programme for children will once again champion the spread of ideas with the next generation of students in Jaipur. This year again, local Jaipur students will get to meet and interact with storytellers, illustrators, award-winning international authors, world-class poets and journalists who will attend the world’s largest free literary festival in the coming days.
For the sixth year running, the Festival has partnered with Pratham Books to produce nearly 100 interactive sessions from Jan 16-25, 2017 promoting the love of books in schools across Jaipur including Bhawani CDC, Smart Native International School, Seth Anandi Lal School for Blind, Deaf and Dumb, Prayas Centre Jagatpura, Government Upper Primary School Bandari ka Nasik, Government Primary School Badi Chaupad, MGD Girls’ School, Neerja Modi International School, Maheshwari Girl’s College, Bright Future English School and several others. This year the Outreach had an early start in Delhi in December with eight sessions in places as diverse as Pranab Mukherjee Presidential Library and Rishav Public School in east Delhi.
Authors taking part this year include the renowned geologist Barry Cunliffe, children’s author and actor Nandana Sen, acclaimed writer Arshia Sattar, mountaineer Colonel Vishal Ahlawat, storyteller Rituparna Ghosh, journalist Kunga Tenzing Dorji to name just a few.
The sessions at participating schools will include various strands of storytelling, illustration workshops, graphic novel and nature sessions, all encouraging the enjoyment of literature and life-long reading.
The feedback from both students and participating authors has been overwhelming. Manisha Chaudhry, Editorial Head, Pratham Books says, “It has been a privilege to introduce children to a host of new ideas through inspiring talks with such an interesting set of people. We have taken special care to organise the School Outreach in government schools, special schools, private schools and budget private schools so that the pleasure of books, reading and new ideas spreads far and wide. Over the last six years we have reached up to 100 government schools and touched over 10,000 children.”
Prof. Peter Stanley of the University of New South Wales who has previously participated in the School Outreach says, “I greatly enjoyed the visits I made to the two schools at which I spoke. It was inspiring and humbling to meet students who exhibited such curiosity, generosity and hospitality. The students’ questions challenged me to explain what I did as a writer and as a person from a very different society, though one that also values reading and thinking. I found meeting the teachers almost as interesting, learning how they maintained their commitment in difficult circumstances and held out hope and example to their pupils. My only regret was that I was not able to spend as much time talking with them informally.”
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NOTES TO MEDIA PERSONS
Information on Registration for the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival can be found here:
http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/registration/
For media enquiries on the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, please contact Edelman India:
Nitisha.Prabhakar@edelman.com / Amrita.Sarna@edelman.com
For Jaipur media coordination on the Jaipur Literature Festival, please contact Spark PR:
Jagdeep Singh (M: 09829065787) (Email id: info@sparkpr.in
Kamal Kant (M: 09571836810) (Email id: info@sparkpr.in)
About the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017
Described as the ‘greatest literary show on Earth’, the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is the world’s largest free event of its kind.
The past decade has seen the Festival host 1300 speakers and welcome nearly 1.2 million book lovers.
Celebrating writers from across the globe, past speakers have ranged from Nobel Laureates and Man Booker Prize winners to debut writers including Amish Tripathi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Eleanor Catton, Hanif Kureishi, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Ian McEwan, J.M. Coetzee, Mohammed Hanif, Oprah Winfrey, Orhan Pamuk, Pico Iyer, Salman Rushdie, Stephen Fry, Thomas Piketty, Vikram Seth and Wole Soyinka along with renowned Indian language writers such as Girish Karnad, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Uday Prakash as well as the late Mahasweta Devi and U.R. Ananthamurthy.
Writers and Festival Directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple invite speakers to take part in the five-day programme set against the backdrop of Rajasthan’s stunning cultural heritage and the Diggi Palace in the state capital Jaipur.
Equity and democracy run through the Festival’s veins, placing some of the world’s greatest minds, humanitarians, historians, politicians, business leaders, sports people and entertainers from all walks of life together on stage. This free and egalitarian access to these renowned thinkers and writers is a powerful statement in a country where access to such individuals remains the privilege of a few. The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival provides a potentially life-changing opportunity for audiences from Rajasthan, across India and the world to learn from and exchange ideas with contemporary literary stalwarts.
The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is a flagship event of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across more than 40 cities globally, and is produced by Sanjoy K. Roy.
In 2014, ZEE JLF spread its wings beyond the borders of India with an annual event in May in London. In 2015, it headed across the pond to Boulder, Colorado where it hosts a similar event every September.
Website: www.jaipurliteraturefestival.org
About Teamwork Arts
For over 25 years, Teamwork Arts has taken India to the world and brought the world to India.
In countries such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Israel, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK and USA, Teamwork produces over 25 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across more than 40 cities.
Teamwork Arts produces one of the world’s largest free literary gatherings, the annual ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival, theIshara International Puppet Festival in New Delhi, the annual Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) and Festival, international festivals Shared History in South Africa, Eye on India in the United States of America, India by the Bay in Hong Kong, Confluence- Festival of India in Australia, and many more.
Website: www.teamworkarts.com