JLF: A Cultural Catalyst

The decade old Jaipur Literature Festival has grown in stature and significance. Sanjoy K Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts and Producer Jaipur Literature Festival, shares his journey so far.

- Kanchan Nath

How has JLF evolved over the years? 

The past decade has seen the Jaipur Literature Festival grow into the world’s largest free gathering of its kind, having hosted more than 1,300 speakers and over 1.2 million visitors. Celebrating writers from across the globe, the festival has hosted some of the biggest literary names, ranging from Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer and Man Booker Prize winners to debut writers.

Starting with a few sessions, a handful of speakers and a couple of hundred participants, the festival has continuously evolved over the years adding new dimensions, spaces, affiliate programmes and participation opportunities for audiences. While the hub continues to be the beautifully appointed Diggi Palace Hotel, JLF now runs across multiple heritage locations in and around the city including the Amber Fort, Hawa Mahal, Albert Museum, Rambagh Hotel, Clarks Hotel, Narain Niwas, Grand Uniara, among others.

The event has also gone international, kindly elaborate on that.

A sizeable chunk of our international visitors come from the UK and the US and we have a strategy in place to extend the JLF brand to Europe and America. Harvard Business School talks about brand JLF being among the fastest growing in its space.