For the first time ever, the Jaipur Literature Festival is going to make its global debut at Soneva Fushi in the Maldives this May. With a spectacular lineup of world-renowned authors, thinkers and cultural leaders, this show will kickstart from May 13 and conclude by May 22.
Celebrating art, literature and beyond, this 10-day festival is hosted by Soneva which is a known name in the hospitality industry and Teamwork Arts, the organisers of JLF. Check out the lineup of speakers at the first global JLF at Soneva Fushi in the Maldives’s Baa Atoll here.
List of speakers at JLF Soneva Fushi
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Celebrating the theme of Slow Life, the debut JLF show at the Maldives will cover a wide spectrum of topics, right from nation-building to the natural world, politics to poetry and spirituality to scientific discovery, among others. The organisers have recently revealed a list of 30 speakers and authors who are set to make the festival even more nuanced with their engaging dialogues.
The list includes renowned novelist Elif Shafak, filmmaker Mira Nair, author and politician Shashi Tharoor, American writer and memoirist Andre Aciman, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and author and professor Mahmood Mamdani. Art critic and historian B.N Goswamy, investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe, former Deputy Chief of Staff at the US Huma Abedin, former Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi, writer and diplomat Pavan K. Varma will also be a part of the festival, this year.
This year’s lineup also includes Sahitya Akademi Award-winning author Namita Gokhale, writer, historian and co-director of JLF William Dalrymple and diplomat and author Vikas Swarup, among others.
Celebrating art, literature & culture
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Spanning over 10 days including two weekends, the JLF Soneva Fushi festival will include events across different themes related to art and culture. The topics of discourse include Film and Adaptations, Politics and the World Order; Science, Innovation and Environment, Travel Writing, History, Fiction, Poetry, Music, Miniatures, and Food and Memory.
On the weekend, the programme will be dedicated to the JLF flagship events including keynote addresses, gala dinners on the sand, sunset poetry cruises, live music shows and film screenings at Cinema Paradiso. The stand-out session will be marked with an inaugural address by Eva and Sonu Shivdasani, the co-founders of Soneva along with Festival co-directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple.
First-ever Maldives iteration of the iconic JLF!
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Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, Producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival, said, “It’s been a dream project to take JLF to Soneva Fushi in the Maldives. Our all-new edition will focus on climate crises, history, geology, fiction and film, alongside delectable cuisine and diverse music and poetry traditions, bringing together the best of world cultures in one place that includes the sun and the sea.”
Talking about the upcoming festival, Sonu Shivdasani the CEO of Soneva said, “We are so proud to host the first edition of JLF Soneva Fushi, which is also the first-ever Maldives iteration of the iconic Jaipur Literature Festival”.
“The festival’s programme is an opportunity to finally reconnect with the pure joy of literature and the arts, and I cannot wait to welcome the lineup of outstanding international authors to our shores,” added the CEO.
