Jaipur Literature Festival: Romancing the Word

In the five years that the Jaipur Literature Festival has existed as an independent entity - for two years before that it was part of a larger heritage festival in the same city - it has seen an explosion of clones across South Asia. While there were hardly any such festivals before, there are now nearly 30. Almost every large state capital in India has its own lit fest, while some, such as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, have two or three. From Thimpu to Galle, from Kathmandu to Lahore, cities in neighboring countries have also got into the act. "Many of them are very good," says Namita Gokhale, Co-director of the Jaipur festival. "The more literature is celebrated, the better. We don't think of them as competition at all."

No one can quite pinpoint why this has happened. More so at a time when book reading is said to be on the wane given the wide variety of entertainment available. "So many are being organised and they are all drawing crowds," says Amish Tripathi, former executive with IDBI Federal Bank Insurance. Tripathi became a full-time writer after the success of his novels 'The Immortals of Meluha' and 'The Secrets of the Nagas'. "Many are being held far from the big metros and are helping the publishing industry connect with the real India."

Gokhale points out that the dominant media wisdom of the time - the need to dumb down to attract readers - has been confounded by the success of literature festivals. "The success shows huge numbers of people are interested in more than luxury and celebrities."
            
But the success rests on shaky foundations - a literature festival needs not only crowds, but also sponsors. The current Jaipur festival will end up with a bill of around Rs 5.8 crore - authors have to be flown in and provided accommodation, infrastructure for the interactions also takes some money. Entry is free and none of the organisers have plans to sell tickets.

And sponsors can be whimsical - even the enormously successful Jaipur festival has broken even only once. This year, a couple of important sponsors are said to have withdrawn at the last minute. But Tripathi does not see it as a major impediment. "Why should a business model based on sponsorship not be sustainable," he says. "If you get the crowds, the sponsors will have to follow."