Asia Society Texas Center Hosts The Greatest Literary Show: Jaipur Literature Festival

The Jaipur Literature Festival, founded in 2006 in Jaipur India, boasts to be one of the largest and greatest literature events sharing millions of literary works with the world. It celebrates the many contributions from Asian authors, publishers, poets and even opens its doors to politicians to share their knowledge through discussion. This year, we had the honor of hosting the festival right here in Houston, Texas along with Managing Director Sanjoy K. Roy with Join Teamwork Arts, and Asia Society Texas Center. A beautiful sunny afternoon with hour long breakout sessions for face time with some of the greatest authors.

“India Sutra” with Shashi Tharoor and Namita Gokhale. Photo by Kaitlyn Ellison.

The festival took place on September 14th and 15th, and hosted a wide range of writers who shared their knowledge and inspiration behind their success. The beauty of the festival was the inclusivity of all persons, fields of literature, and all races. Whether you were a novelist from India, a crime writer like Kathy Reichs from America, a performer speaking about the travesties that happened in New Orleans like Jovan Mays, or a health professional like Sharad P. Paul, you were welcome to share the mission of your work. The first night was an Inaugural address led by Shashi Tharoor that was followed on an enchanting panel discussion of India Sutra. For those who are not familiar with him, Tharoor is known for a multitude of literary work such as The Great Indian Novel, and Why I Am A Hindu, he is at present serving as a Member of Parliament and had once served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development in the Government of India and UN official. He certainly was the star power of the evening followed by a musical performance.

The next day was a full day of sessions including an honorable talk led by author Navtej Sarna, former Commissioner of India and Ambassador to Israel. He is currently serving as India’s Ambassador to the United States. Other authors that led the conversations included; Anis Shivani, Pushcart Prize-winning author and poet, Chirtra Divakaruni, International bestselling and award-winning author of books such as Mistress of Spices, and Namita Gokhale. Gokhale is not only a writer and publisher herself, but she is one of the founders of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival amongst many other literary festivals around the world. Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly attended and has had some of her amazing works featured in well-known magazines such as Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and frequently, The New York Times.

A key topic of interest included the works of other cultural advocates who shared work that highlighted the racial diversity that we can celebrate in the melting pot that is Houston. Home to many types of immigrants from Europe, to Africa, and even south of the border, we were joined by authors sharing from their personal experiences. Amongst these where Jasminne Mendez, Ruben Martinez, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, Egyptian-Canadian author of American War, and Omar El Akkad, to name a few.

All in all, this was a wonderful celebration of culture, literature, and the shared interest of those who attended. There was no speech or discussion that was not fully engrossed by the audience.

Other notable contributors to the weekend brought incredible culture and works of art to be celebrated in Houston, they included: Jay K. Aiyer, attorney and public policy expert. Robin Davidson, poet, literary translator and professor. Kurt Heinzelman, poet, translator, and scholar. Lacy M. Johnson, Professor, curator, activist. Rich Levy, poet and executive director of Inprint. Sonal Mansingh, cultural personality in India and author of Incredible India. Marcus Moench, founder of ISET-International with art focus on environmental challenges. Rajesh Parameswaran, author of short story collection: I am Executioner: Love Stories. Sharad P. Paul, Skin Cancer specialist and author of The Genetics of Health. Shobha Rao, author of Girls Burn Brighter and An Unrestored Woman. Roberto Tejada, author of Full Foreground, photographer and professor. Milan Vaishnav, author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics, and director of South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Marina Tristan, assistant director of Arte Publico Press.