Featuring at JLF@Boulder

The Jaipur Literature Festival which began in 2006 is now regarded as a cultural catalyst in India and around the world. From just 100 visitors in 2006, JLF grew to 250,000 footfalls over the five-day festival this January, in 2015. A new initiative this year is taking the festival overseas, to present the flavour of JLF to an entirely new audience. Presenting to you – JLF@Boulder, with the destination for the event being Boulder, Colorado, USA!

JLF@Boulder is fortunate to have some of the best and most prestigious award winning authors and speakers from across the world this year on its panels, featuring among others:

JUNG CHANG

Jung Chang’s books have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 15 million copies around the world. Her best-selling book Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China was her family autobiography of three generations – her grandmother, her mother and herself. Hillary Clinton called it “an inspiring tale of women who survived every kind of hardship, deprivation and political upheaval with their humanity intact.”

Her latest book Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China about the most important woman in Chinese history brought a medieval empire into the modern age. It was published in 2013 and was a New York Times notable book.

LAILA LALAMI
A recipient of the British Council fellowship and a Lannan Foundation Residency Fellowship, Laila Lalami is a prolific author whose works have been nominated for numerous distinguished awards including the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. Many of her writings and opinion pieces have appeared in publications like The Washington Post, The Guardian and The New York Times. Her literary works have also been translated into 10 languages.

Her latest book The Moor’s Account is based on one of the four survivors of the Narvaez expedition which took place in 1527. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2015.

VIJAY SESHADRI
Vijay Seshadri is an Indian-born poet, essayist and literary critic based in New York. His works have been published in various eminent journals and anthologies including Contours of the Heart, The New Yorker and The Nation.

He received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2014, for his work 3 Sections. The Pulitzer Committee described this work as “a compelling collection of poems that examine human consciousness, from birth to dementia, in a voice that is by turns witty and grave, compassionate and remorseless.”

ANCHEE MIN
Chinese-American writer Anchee Min was born in a staunchly Maoist family in 1950’s Shanghai and forced to work on a communal farm from the age of seventeen where she was discovered by talent scouts. She worked as an actress at the Shanghai Film Studio and later went to the United States in 1984 with the help of actress Joan Chen. She graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a B.F.A. and M.F.A. in Fine Arts.

Min has published two memoirs, Red Azalea and The Cooked Seed: A Memoir, and six historical novels. Her compelling memoir, Red Azalea documents her isolation and illicit love against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution. Her fiction emphasizes strong female characters, such as Jiang Qing, the wife of Chairman Mao Zedong, and Empress Dowager Cixi, the last ruling empress of China.

The First edition of JLF@Boulder promises to be a scintillating affair with stimulating sessions, debates and discussions that would appeal to anyone who relishes the written word. With the backdrop of the sunshine of Boulder and the beautiful creeks and scenic beauty, the festival is sure to be a remarkable experience for all.