Press Release
ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival finds a new home at the British Library, London
Magna Carta comes to India in 2017
- In the 70th year of Indian independence, the 2 day event in London in May 2017 explores ‘The Idea of India’.
- British Library partners with the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival in January 2017 to look at the legacy of the Magna Carta in India.
JLF@London, British Library, May 2017
ZEE JLF, Diggi Palace Hotel, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 19 – 23 January 2017
The British Library and the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival come together in a new partnership to host a series of events in Jaipur and London during 2017. In January the British Library will be part of the programme in Jaipur that looks at the legacy of Magna Carta, including the loan of a facsimile of the 1215 Magna Carta to be displayed on site during the Festival. In May, the British Library will host the London leg of the Festival for the first time.
The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival travels to London for the fourth time with a creative caravan of writers and thinkers, poets and balladeers brought together by co-directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple. Showcasing South Asia’s unique multilingual literary heritage and the Festival’s global programme and appeal, JLF@London is an intense two-day teaser of the original festival, celebrating its 10th anniversary in January, declared the ‘greatest literary show on earth’.
Inspired by the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence JLF@London will look at ‘The Idea of India’ with eminent authors from India and the UK and will showcase South Asia’s multilingual literary heritage, oral and performing arts, books and ideas, dialogue and debate, Bollywood and politics in the context of this broader view of India and its relationship to the UK.
The festival’s partnership with the British Library places the legacy of Magna Carta, and its influence on the Indian constitution, at the centre of discussions and debates at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival. The British Library is loaning a facsimile of the 1215 Magna Carta to be displayed on site at the Diggi Palace during the Festival and Claire Breay, Head of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts at the British Library joins a panel to discuss justice.
The Magna Carta established the “rule of law” in England in 1215 after 25 barons forced the then King of England King John to agree to follow an agreed form of justice. Now over 800 years old the ancient document is celebrated for establishing the primacy of the “rule of law” in the functioning of a society, and is often cited as the original source of Article 21 of the Constitution of India – “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”.
ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival will explore the concept of justice and the “rule of law” in relation to India today.
Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts who produce the Jaipur Literature Festival, said, “The Jaipur Literature Festival has developed immeasurably over the last ten years and established itself as one of the greatest literary gatherings in the world. Teamwork Arts continues to extend the Festival overseas and is delighted to partner with the British Library to give audiences in the UK a taste of what they can experience in Jaipur. In an important year for UK and India relations, we are looking forward to exploring common foundations in the Magna Carta as well as our many cultural and trade connections both at JLF@London in May and in Jaipur in January. We know already that people are travelling from the UK and around the world to join us for what promises to be one of the best years ever.”
JLF@London
British Library
May 2017
ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival
Diggi Palace Hotel, Jaipur, Rajasthan
19 – 23 January 2017
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NOTES TO MEDIA PERSONS
Information on Registration for the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival can be found here:
https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/registration-2017/
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:
Kamal Kant (M: 09571836810) (Email id: info@sparkpr.in)
About the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017
The past decade has seen the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival grow into the world’s largest free event of its kind. Having hosted 1300 speakers and welcoming nearly 1.2 million book lovers, the success of ZEE JLF has been astonishing and heartwarming.
Celebrating writers from across the globe, the Festival has hosted some of the best regarded and loved names, ranging from Nobel Laureates and Man Booker Prize winners to debut writers such as Amish Tripathi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Eleanor Catton, Hanif Kureishi, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Ian McEwan, JM Coetzee, Margaret Atwood, Mohammed Hanif, Oprah Winfrey, Orhan Pamuk, Pico Iyer, Salman Rushdie, Stephen Fry, Thomas Piketty, Vikram Seth and Wole Soyinka, as well as renowned Indian language writers such as Girish Karnad, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, MT Vasudevan Nair, Uday Prakash as well as the late Mahasweta Devi and UR Ananthamurthy.
Writers and Festival Directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple invite authors from across the globe 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 writers and thinkers from all walks of life together on stage. All events are completely free and there are no reserved spaces; this egalitarian access is a powerful statement in a country where access to such individuals remains the privilege of a few. On top of all this, people are guaranteed to have fun!
As Time Out said: “It’s settled. The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival is officially the Woodstock, Live 8 and Ibiza of world literature, with an ambience that can best be described as James Joyce meets Monsoon Wedding.”
The 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 at London’s Southbank Centre. In 2015, ZEE JLF 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 ZEEJaipur Literature Festival, the Ishara 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
