Prominent writers, literary personalities and artists from Qatar and around the world will take part in the Middle East debut of the Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF), dubbed as the “greatest literary show on earth”, slated to run from December 12 to 14, 2019 at the Qatar National Library (QNL).

The event, hosted by the QNL in conjunction with TeamWork Arts, and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ooredoo Qatar, is the first international literature festival of its kind to be held in the country and the region.

The event is part of the Qatar – India Year of Culture 2019 festivities. 

At a press conference earlier this week, QNL executive director Dr Sohair Wastawy said, "We are honored that this global literary event makes its Middle East debut in Doha, joining the cities of London, New York, Toronto, Houston, Belfast, Boulder and Adelaide, who have also hosted international editions of this iconic celebration of literature."

Among the authors who will be speaking at the festival are:

- William Dalrymple, bestselling author, historian and co-director of the JLF;

- Manu S Pillai, author of the critically-acclaimed *The Ivory Throne, *Rebel Sultans and *The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin;

- Alex Shaw, author of the Aidan Snow thrillers *Cold Blood, *Cold Black, and *Cold East; Pranay Lal, award-winning author of *Indica: A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent;

- Prayaag Akbar, author of *Leila, which was turned into a drama serial this year by Netflix;

- Tony Joseph, author of the bestselling and award-winning book *Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From.

Several members of Qatar community will also be speaking at the JLF Doha, including:

- Dr Ahmad Dallal, dean of Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) and author *Islam without Europe: Traditions of Reform in Eighteenth-Century Islamic Thought and *Islam, Science and the Challenge of History;

- Amal Mohamed al-Malki, founding dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University;

- Dr James Onley, director of Historical Research and Partnerships at QNL and author of *The Arabian Frontier of the British Raj;

- M Reza Pirbhai, associate professor of History at GU-Q and author of the books *Reconsidering Islam in a South Asian Context and *Fatima Jinnah: Mother of the Nation;

- Sam Meekings, poet, novelist and assistant professor of Creative Writing at Northwestern University in Qatar;

- Uday Chandra, assistant professor of Government at GU-Q.

Other prominent personalities set to take part in the literary festival are:

- Paul McVeigh, co-founder of the London Short Story Festival;

- Dr Rakhshanda Jalil, translator, writer and literary historian;

- Kim Pereira, actor, director, playwright and author of *August Wilson and The African-American Odyssey;

- American journalist Jeffrey Gettleman, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting;

- Asma Khan, the first British chef to be featured on Netflix’s *Chef’s Table;

- Buket Uzuner, one of Turkey’s “75 Most Influential Women”;

- Sharmila Tagore, veteran Indian actress;

- Musharraf Ali Farooqi, author of 2012 Man Asia Literary Prize finalist *Between Clay and Dust;

- Namita Gokhale, author, founder and co-director of the JLF and of Mountain Echoes, the Bhutan Literature Festival;

- Sanjoy K Roy, managing director of Teamwork Arts.

Ibrahim al-Hashmi of the Spokesperson's Office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, "We are delighted to be part of a landmark moment for our literary landscape, the latest example of Qatar’s role in the global exchange of culture and ideas."

"The JLF Doha is a formidable example of how the Library works with international partners to bring different cultures together and is also a testament to a cultural friendship between two nations with a long, rich history of co-operation," he noted.

In addition to the main event, the festival will also see side events such as creative writing, theatre, and children’s storytelling workshops.

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Cover Image Credit: Twitter/@QNLib Inline Image - from JLF 2018/ travelwhistle.com

Source: Gulf Times