If you are Bridget Jones fan, then this is just for you. Helen Fielding, the author of the best-selling book, is all set to make her first appearance at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival next year.
It will be Fielding’s first appearance at a books-related event in India, making her appearance quite a coup for Zee JLF given that the Bridget Jones books and films have a cult following in India as well.
Fielding is, however, not the only big name among the authors who will be in Jaipur between January 25-29, 2018 - the dates for the next edition of the festival.
The first list of 60 names put out by the organisers on Tuesday included Amy Tan, an American author of Chinese origin best-known for her first novel, The Joy Luck Club, which was also made into a popular film.
Then there will be Tom Stoppard, Academy Award-winning script writer of Shakespeare in Love, Michael Ondatje, author of the Booker prize winning novel English Patient; Michael Rezendes, journalist with The Boston Globe who won a Pulitzer Prize for his expose of sexual abuse in the church; Mohammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist who is deemed to be the father of micro-finance; and former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai.
Rupi Kaur, the Instagram poetry writer who is Canadian but was born in Punjab, will make her first appearance at the festival, alongside others like Pico Iyer, eminent travel writer, and Bangladeshi American author Abeer Hoque, who’ve been seen at Diggi Palace, ZeeJLF’s long-time venue, in previous years.
Among other writers who will be a part of the show are Mridula Garg, a Sahitya Akademi recipient; and Akhil Sharma, Indian-American author whose 2015 novel, Family Life, won several awards globally. Bollywood, which is a strong draw at Zee Jaipur Lit Fest, will be represented by director, scriptwriter Anurag Kashyap.
