On May 29, British Council Ireland joined a luncheon to celebrate the arrival of the inaugural Jaipur Literature Festival: Island of Ireland to Dublin.
Jaipur Literature Festival
Jaipur Literature Festival is a global literary phenomenon, having hosted over 2000 speakers and welcoming over a million booklovers from across India and the globe. The festival brings together a diverse mix of the world’s greatest writers, thinkers, humanitarians, politicians, business leaders, sports people and entertainers on one stage to champion the freedom to express and engage in thoughtful debate and dialogue. Writers and Festival Directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple, alongside Festival producer Teamwork Arts, invite speakers to take part in the five-day programme set in the historic and dynamic state capital Jaipur.
The festival has featured eminent speakers from various fields, including Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Booker Prize winners, Sahitya Akademi Awardees, JCB and Baillie Gifford winners.
JLF Island of Ireland
This year, from 22- 31 May, JLF returns to Ireland for one of its most ambitious projects yet: the inaugural JLF Island of Ireland, a cross-border literary festival supported by the Government of Ireland, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and Arts Council Ireland.
Travelling from Belfast to Dublin, stopping in Armagh and Dundalk, JLF Island of Ireland brought together spectacle, music and poetry, words and ideas, and was free and open to all.
On 29th May, British Council Ireland and the British Embassy in Ireland hosted a luncheon to celebrate the festival’s arrival in Dublin at Wilde in the Westbury Hotel. At the event, HMA Kara Owen and Irish Ambassador to India Kevin Kelly spoke to the importance of literature to Ireland, India and the UK. We would like to pay particular thanks to the festival organisers for their attendance, including Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, Sanjoy Roy and Co-Director of the festival Namita Gokhale. To find out more about JLF Island of Ireland celebrations, please see below.