Jaipur Literature Festival travels to Belfast

The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) is coming to Belfast this June in the event’s latest edition to hit cities outside of India.

Organised with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in partnership with the British Council, the JLF will launch with a gala dinner on 21st June before events at the Lyric Theatre on 22nd June and Seamus Heaney HomePlace the following day.

The event will feature readings, panel discussions and debates with acclaimed writers and cultural thinkers from India, Ireland, the UK and beyond. Themes under discussion will include borders, gender, poetry and migration.

JLF organisers Teamwork Arts has previously held events in New York, Adelaide and Toronto as the festival bids to extend its global impact. The Belfast festival will follow the sixth London edition of the festival on 14th to 16th June.

Teamwork Arts managing director Sanjoy K. Roy said he wanted to explore a “common legacy of post-conflict literature, cultural and political impact”. He said: “The festival will showcase ideas and voices outside of the ‘Anglo-centric’ cultural expectations and will be a celebration of poetry, music and the written word.”

Noirin McKinney, director of arts development at the Arts Council, said Pico Iyer, Navtej Sarna, David Park, Paul McVeigh, Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple had already been lines-up to appear.

She said: “Working with our partners at the Lyric Theatre and Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy, this fantastic new three-day festival will be a platform for creating, sharing and promoting the creative arts and will deepen our partnership with key Indian cultural institutions. We very much look forward to welcoming international writers and audiences to the Festival here this summer and sharing our famous Northern Ireland hospitality.”