The international extension of JLF, after successful runs in New York and Houston, is now in the city of Boulder with an array of inspiring conversations and ideas.
The 9th edition of JLF Colorado from September 21 to September 23 will feature a range of acclaimed speakers, scholars, thinkers, and authors.
Teamwork Arts, the producer of the iconic Jaipur Literature Festival and its international editions, has partnered with Boulder Public Library, Boulder Library Foundation, City of Boulder, National Endowment for the Arts, Colorado Creative Industries, Boulder Arts Commission, Organic India, Colorado Fine Arts Association, Bhakti Chai, Boulder Book Store, and Multimedia Audio Visual.
At the festival, Martin Puchner will discuss his latest book, "The Story of Us, From Cave Art to K-Pop", which documents cultural crescendos from ancient Greece to a time capsule left on the moon. Mr Puchner will elucidate the role of art in the propagation of knowledge and cultural discourse with author and academic Merve Emre.
In a powerful session examining the intersectionality of gender, power, and social justice, award-winning science journalist Angela Saini and Emmy-winning documentarian Ruchira Gupta will be in conversation with Patricia Limerick, faculty director of the Applied History Initiative at the University of Colorado. Ms Saini's latest work, "The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality", delves into the roots of patriarchy's global spread from prehistory to the present. Ms Gupta will share insights from her work, "I Kick and I Fly", which is inspired by her Emmy-winning documentary, "The Selling of Innocents".
The festival will host a session exploring book bans through history, and discuss censorship and strong reactions to literary criticism within the socio-political context.
The panel will include David Farnan, director of Boulder Public Library, Martin Puchner, author and Byron and Anita Wien Professor at Harvard University, Arsen Kashkashian, Book Buyer and General Manager of Boulder Book Store, and Emmy-winning documentarian Ruchira Gupta, in conversation with Festival Producer Sanjoy K Roy.
Bestselling historian Katie Hickman will bring together extraordinary stories of women who participated in the greatest mass migration in American history in her latest book "Brave Hearted: The Women of the American West". In conversation with Patricia Limerick, Ms Hickman will discuss the women of the American West and their reservoir of courage and resilience in the face of life-threatening change.
The conversations will continue with a session on Nepali author Tsering Yangzom Lama's debut novel, "We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies". The book is a meditation on displacement, colonization, and the human need to remain connected to homes, families, and ancestral lands. The session will also feature cultural anthropologist Dawa Lokyitsang, whose scholarship focuses on how Tibetans produced a sovereign community in exile through the development of their educational institutions in India to resist the dissolution of their identity as a people. Ms Lama and Ms Lokyitsang will be in conversation with academic and writer Natalie Avalos.
Another session will feature writer and tech journalist Vauhini Vara, whose novel, "The Immortal King Rao", raises philosophical questions on society and the limits of technology. Her upcoming collection of stories, "This Is Salvaged", takes a kaleidoscopic and ferociously tender look at loss and what people hold onto or discover in the wake of it. Vauhini Vara, with broadcaster Maeve Conran, will take the audience through the many dimensions of her writing life and the fabric that holds it all together.
Award-winning journalist Anjan Sundaram's recent memoir, "Breakup: A Marriage in Wartime", is a heartrending account of the personal price that war correspondents pay as they bear witness on the frontlines of humanitarian crimes across the world. At JLF Colorado 2023, Anjan Sundaram will be in conversation with literary critic and author Merve Emre.
The US grapples with deep political polarization, marked by conflicting ideologies and a widening gap between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats. A panel of academic and author David W McIvor, documentarian Ruchira Gupta, activist and author Chika Unigwe, poet and conversation facilitator Pedro Silva, poet, writer, entrepreneur, and healer Pariksith Singh will explore this societal divide in a session.
In "The Lives and Afterlives of Tibetan Masters", academic and author Andrew Quintman and scholar and translator Holly Gayley will talk about the lives of two prominent figures in Tibetan Buddhism, Milarepa, and Yeshe Tsogyal. Mr Quintman and Ms Gayley will introduce the literary representations of their lives and explore how these life stories extend beyond the written page into the artistic, ritual, and lived dimensions.
Nigerian-born Igbo author Chika Unigwe's recent novel, "The Middle Daughter", is a modern retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone. It follows the story of Nani as she grapples with rapid life changes after the deaths of her father and elder sister. In conversation with academic and writer Nina McConigley, Ms Unigwe will discuss the nuances of this powerful tale and its larger cultural and historical significance.
Registration for participation in JLF Colorado is currently open at https://jlflitfest.org/colorado.
