Jaipur Literature Festival 2025 unveils a multifaceted programme for its 18th Edition

Teamwork Arts, India’s pioneering curation company and festival producer, revealed the first list of sessions for the 2025 programme, which will, once again, reinforce the transformative power of books and ideas

The Jaipur Literature Festival returns for its 18th edition from January 30 to February 3, 2025, at Hotel Clarks Amer, Jaipur. Teamwork Arts, India’s pioneering curation company and festival producer, revealed the first list of sessions for the 2025 programme, which will, once again, reinforce the transformative power of books and ideas.

Among sessions that feature internationally acclaimed authors and personalities that have been announced include:

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Poor Economics for the Young

In their intriguing book, ‘Poor Economics for Kids’, Nobel Prize-winner Esther Duflo and renowned illustrator Cheyenne Olivier explain economic concepts to younger readers, encouraging them to open their minds and broaden their perspectives. Together, Duflo and Olivier discuss the early foundation of social awareness and empathy it seeks to establish.

David Hare: A Life in Theatre and Film

BAFTA-winning playwright David Hare, author of iconic works such as ‘The Secret Rapture’, ‘The Absence of War’, and ‘Skylight’, and celebrated as ‘the finest living British dramatist’, gives us insight into his creative process and the inspirations and moments that have shaped his career.

Roman Year: A Memoir

Author, distinguished professor at CUNY, and winner of the Whiting Award, André Aciman has over 17 works of fiction and non-fiction to his name. Globally acclaimed for his tender depictions of love, loss, and adolescence in ‘Call Me By Your Name’, Aciman is well-known for his absorbing narratives and their unflinching explorations of emotion. In this session, bestselling author André Aciman recounts his journey through love, memory, and identity with novelist Shivani Sibal.

Kairos: The Heart Divided

Winner of the International Booker Prize 2024, ‘Kairos: The Heart Divided’ by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann, centres around a passionate but destructive love affair set against the backdrop of East Berlin in the 1980s. As the region crumbles, so does the relationship, revealing the complexities of power, betrayal, and the shifting loyalties of an era in flux. Erpenbeck and Hofmann explore the philosophical tensions of choice and fate, bringing together art and politics in this deeply reflective session.

The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters

Benjamin Moser’s ‘The Upside-Down World’ is an ode to Dutch artists, taking readers on a twenty-year-journey of his time in Holland, that chronicles his arriving in the Netherlands as a young writer to his discovery of the creative masters who shaped the Dutch Golden Age of Art. Describing how he found solace and friends amongst long-gone artists, Moser will discuss the never-ending questions about the story of art, why we create, and why that matters.

Deep Water: The World in the Ocean

A sweeping exploration of humanity’s intricate ties to the ocean, author James Bradley’s latest book, ‘Deep Water’, examines the role of the ocean as life’s cradle, a force of history, and a fragile lifeline. In conversation with Mridula Ramesh, the Australian Ambassador to India, Philip Green, and environmentalist Yuvan Aves, Bradley discusses this environmental urgency and the intertwined bond between humanity and planet earth.

Long and the Short

Is brevity the soul of wit? Is length essential for gravitas? What challenges and rewards do different writing forms present? Namita Gokhale – co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival and award-winning author, and Lucy Caldwell whose ‘Openings: Thirteen Stories’ explores love, loss, and the human condition set against contemporary Ireland, discuss the contrasting worlds of long-form writing — epic sagas and weighty fiction — and the allure of short stories, flash fiction, and slim volumes.

To view the full programme, please visit: https://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/