The iconic annual Jaipur Literature Festival returns this year to New York with the 6th edition of JLF New York with the rich literary heritage of South Asia.
Internationally acclaimed authors, scholars, and thinkers will address this edition of JLF New York scheduled from Sep 12 to 14 in partnership with Asia Society, New York; The National Arts Club, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Engendered, Delhi Arts Gallery (DAG) and Avid Learning.
The scale of programming remains as grand as ever, covering subjects such as fiction, non-fiction, technology, history and art among others, according to a media release from Teamwork Arts, producer of international editions of JLF.
On Sep 12 the first panel called ‘State of the Contemporary: NFTs and the Global South’ will be presented by Engendered and Avid Learning.
Read: Jaipur Literature Festival comes to Big Apple, with JLF at New York (September 12, 2018)
Techne Disruptors is one of the first art, tech & NFT shows from the Global South with a focus on South Asia by international curator and cultural producer Myna Mukherjee. The show engages Indian futurisms, indigenous technologies, and future-forward aesthetics while retaining the notion of cultural perpetuity.
This panel will feature some of the most illustrious names in art and tech, including Professor Pattie Maes, till recently Chair of the MIT Media Labs and editor of three books, Anand Venkateswaran, CEO E-Dao and the famed crypto investor who bought Beeple’s record breaking NFT at Christie’s online auction for $69.3 million, Madeleine Pierpoint, Web3 MOMA and till recently Lumen Art Projects, artists Raghava K.K and Harshit Agrawal and Arpit Sharma, Vice President, Global Enterprises, Polygon Technologies. The session will be moderated by Asad Lalljee, CEO Avid Learning.
The festival continues with a stellar line-up of speakers.
Sep 13: Panels at the National Arts Club
Award-winning writer, poet and academic Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni discussing her book ‘The Last Queen’ about the last reigning queen of India’s Sikh Empire, Maharani Jindan Kaur — who was regent of the vast Sikh Empire from 1843 until 1846, and renowned for her beauty, energy and strength of purpose — with Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts.
Gayatri Sinha, art critic and curator, discussing the development of Indian photography with Director & Chief Curator at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi, Roobina Karode and International Head, Department for Contemporary Indian & Southeast Asian Art, Deepanjana Klein.
Sep 14: Panels at the Asia Society
Marie Brenner, an American author, investigative journalist and writer-at-large for Vanity Fair will discuss her book ‘The Desperate Hours: One Hospital’s Fight to Save a City on the Pandemic’s Front Lines,’ a first-hand account of the early months of the pandemic through the entire New York-Presbyterian hospital system.
In conversation with television journalist Cynthia McFadden, Brenner evaluates the brutal war waged on front line workers and the palpable sense of hope that kept them going.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi, diplomat and public intellectual, discussing ‘Restless As Mercury: My Life As a Young Man’ his account of the struggles and experiences that formed his grandfather Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s philosophy. A continuation of the Mahatma’s autobiography, ‘My Experiments with Truth’, his book is rooted in research and personal communications.
Akash Kapur, journalist and author of ‘Better to Have Gone: Love, Death and the Quest for Utopia’ about the intentional community of Auroville located in South India, where Kapur and his wife were raised.
In conversation with journalist Amy Waldman, Kapur will discuss the opportunities and perils of utopia, and the nature of memory, personal grief and history.
Sarfraz Manzoor’s book ‘Greetings from Bury Park,’ is a hymn to his late father and Bruce Springsteen. Adapted into the film, ‘Blinded by The Light,’ it chronicles his experiences as a British Muslim growing up in ’80s.
Manzoor’s recent book, ‘They: What Muslims and Non-Muslims Get Wrong About Each Other,’ examines the roots of the social and cultural divisions that plague Britain today. Manzoor takes us on a journey through his life and work.
Mahmood Mamdani in conversation with Marie Brenner about his recent book, ‘Neither Settler nor Native,’ which is steeped in research and case-studies and signals the need to reimagine political communities beyond tokenism and expediency. Mamdani will explore the nature of the nation state, and the path to a reimagined, decolonized future.
Asha Jadeja Motwani and M. R. Rangaswami in conversation with Asad Lalljee about ‘Digital Entrepreneurship, Innovation and the Cyber Future’.
The very architecture of thought has transformed in the digital world. It is marked by agility, speed, disruptive processes and the courage of creative destruction and reinvention.
A distinguished panel seeks the markers and provocations of change, and discusses how it can be inclusive for the greater good.
Guru Prakash Paswan, Dalit activist, will discuss the wounds of history and the processes of restorative justice. His co-authored book, ‘ Makers of Modern Dalit History,’ features the inspiring accounts of individuals who battled the divisive, discriminatory force of caste – their forms of protest, activism, social reform, and legacy – in contemporary India.
JLF New York is a part of the larger umbrella of international JLF festivals in the USA, which also includes JLF Houston on Sep 9 and 10 and JLF Colorado on Sep 16-18.
Program Schedule and Tickets, visit: https://jlflitfest.org/new-york/schedule
For more information and speaker bios, visit: https://jlflitfest.org/new-york/speakers