Data represents one of the most valuable assets on the planet today. As millions of consumers continue to purchase online, corporations race to collect more and more details about their behaviors, needs and desires. Publishers and authors discuss how big data can be used to analyse book buying behaviour.

Libraries are increasingly becoming crucial community hubs that serve as centres of learning, communication, professional development and collaborative projects. They seek to be inclusive spaces with resources for those who wish to learn, engage and celebrate who they are and what they want to become. 

It isn’t about size or scale, it’s about choice. A session about the instinctive, often counter-intuitive sensibilities of independent publishers and the risks they take as they step outside the structures of corporate publishing. Legendary publishers speak about publishing books that need to be read and finding readers who must exist. 

Writing about food is a rigorous discipline involving cuisine, aesthetics and cultural context. Recipes need to be measured and calibrated, photography must be evocative and the book must become a part of the readers hearth and home. Some of the most talented food writers in the world gather to share their recipes for food and literature.

The Romain Rolland Prize awards the best of French fiction translated into Indian languages. The jury delves into the significance of literature in translation. The Jaipur Literature Festival and Jaipur BookMark are honoured to host the award ceremony for the third year in a row.

Followed by the Romain Rolland prize announcement, introduced by H.E. Mr. Emmanuel Lenain, presented by Leïla Slimani 

Cocktails co-hosted by Institut Français and French Embassy 

An immersive experience, a virtual reality installation adapting Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis by the Goethe Institut opens at the Durbar Hall on January 22. Thereafter, come experience the magic at the DC Books JBM Haveli.


 

While poetry remains a key to literary expression in languages and literatures around the world, as spoken word, digital and print expression, do poetry books actually sell? Instagram avatars clock millions of hits and matching sales but for most poets a published volume remains an arduous journey. Dedicated and engaged publishers speak of their belief and commitment. 

Translation is an act of ‘surrender’, of totally immersing oneself in the text. There is no place for ‘ego’ or ‘personality’ in translation as one gets ‘possessed’ by the spirit of the chosen language, piece of literature or poetry. Find out what keeps translators intimately connected with their art in this candid session.

Publishers often seek to tick the right boxes in order to appropriately represent gender, ethnicity and markers or diversity in their books. How do they strike a balance between mere tokenism and embracing true multiculturalism?

A great cover is the perfect way to wrap up the story within. How do we judge book cover design?  How important is a cover to the identity of the book? Designers, authors, publishers and readers celebrate five years of the coveted Oxford Book Cover Prize.

Followed by the announcement of the 5th Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize, presented by Namita Gokhale, Shashi Tharoor and Shobhaa De

Festival directors discuss the colour of money and sponsorship support as an important aspect of their profession. As international festivals are funded by both private and public foundations, which also participate in festivals in various ways, there is an increased pressure to bring on board sponsors, who remain untainted in this complex political and moral ecosystem. How do festivals remain authentic and relevant in their programming, and yet meet the increased demands on festival planning, cost and logistics? Find out how the most successful directors around the world overcome this challenge.

How autonomous are literary festivals in the contemporary cultural economy? Does the state have a role with respect to culture and the arts, especially in today’s fraught political climate? To what extent are they functioning independently from the state and sponsors? How do festival directors in particular tackle these issues, without allowing it to tarnish the image of their festivals? Festival directors discuss the challenges faced by them.