Jaipur Bytes

The digital age is transforming how readers and audiences interpret and consume literary fiction. Ann Cleeves, Anosh Irani, Emma Donoghue, and Devyani Saltzman discuss the creative collaborations that enable the movement from script to screen and how text-driven narratives get transformed into dynamic scripts and immersive moving images. Bestselling author Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope series has been dramatized onscreen as Vera and the Jimmy Perez novels as the series Shetland. Celebrated novelist and playwright Anosh Irani’s one-man show, Buffoon, won the 2020 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, and his latest book is titled Translated from the Gibberish: Seven Stories and One Half Truth. Award-winning author Emma Donoghue’s book Room has been adapted into a movie and a play. Writer and curator Devyani Saltzman latest book is Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking. She is currently the Director of Public Programming at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

This episode is the audio version of a live online session at #JLFToronto2020.

Shashi Tharoor and Simon Winchester in conversation with Supriya Nair.

The making of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), under the editorship of James Murray and others, was a monumental 50-year task requiring thousands of volunteers. In his book, The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary, British-American author and journalist Simon Winchester, tells the story of the OED and its early editors. Winchester’s popular book, The Surgeon of Crowthorne, also tells the odd story of the murderer who contributed extensively from his prison cell. Renowned politician and author Shashi Tharoor’s latest book Tharoorosaurus covers the etymologies and eccentricities of the words in the English language. In conversation with Supriya Nair, they discuss the English vocabulary and this constantly evolving tome of lexicons.

This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFToronto2020.

What accounts for success or failure? Writer and philosopher Michael Sandel’s latest book The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? looks deeper into the binaries that have brewed generations of anger, frustration, and polarization in America. Sandel’s timely book examines the need to recognize success in a manner that reaffirms the ethics of solidarity, humility and dignity. In a conversation with Anand Giridharadas (author of Winners Takes All), he challenges the atmosphere of meritocratic hubris and inequality, and stresses the need for the common good as a key to face the extreme challenges of our times.

This episode is the audio version of a live online session at #JLFNewYork2020.

Luke Harding in conversation with Suhasini Haidar.

In an era of kleptocratic governments and modernisation of communist era propaganda for the age of Facebook and Twitter, Luke Harding’s The Shadow State explores the alleged hidden war orchestrated by Russia to reshape the modern world. Detailing accounts of espionage, corruption, and KGB-style murders the book takes us through the murky waters of how deep the Russian roots run in this post Soviet world. In a conversation with Suhasini Haidar , Harding discusses this threat to America and the future of Western democracy.

This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFNewYork2020.

Owen Bennett- Jones and Husain Haqqani in conversation TCA Raghavan.

Journalist and author Owen Bennett-Jones’ new book The Bhutto Dynasty: The Struggle for Power in Pakistan is a vivid account of the deeply rooted influence and journey of one of Pakistan’s most powerful families. Drawing on research and unpublished documents spanning across more than two decades, he explores the turbulent years of political power and personal loss that have long overshadowed the Bhuttos. Jones is also the writer of Pakistan: Eye of the Storm and Target Britain. Husain Haqqani is Pakistan's former Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the United States, and was previously Benazir Bhutto's spokesperson. He is currently the senior fellow and director for South and Central Asia at Hudson Institute. In conversation with diplomat and author TCA Raghavan they discuss the political and social landscape that led to the rise of the Bhutto dynasty and the legacy they left behind.

This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFNewYork2020.

Diasporic writers in the US, Jenny Bhatt and Mimi Lok speak to Neelanjana Banerjee on how displacement, whether physical or cultural or both, has shaped their storytelling and their own identities as writers. 

This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFHouston2020.

Bollywood, and the Indian film industry in general, is dominated by men and tends to have an innately masculine bias. However, recent trends have shown films centered around women are slowly and surely making their mark. The spirited, multiple-awardee and popular actor Richa Chadha speaks of searching for the feminine sensibility and the important perspectives it represents. Chadha’s major films include ‘ Masaan,’ ‘Gangs of Wasseypur,’ and ‘Sarabjit;’ she has consistently spoken up against patriarchy, misogyny, and injustice. In conversation with Supriya Dravid, she speaks of her career, films, and beliefs.

This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFHouston2020.

‘How Innovation Works: And Why it Flourishes in Freedom ’ by Matt Ridley is a fascinating analysis of innovations across time and history. The Fifth Viscount Ridley is a hereditary peer who has been a member of the British Parliament and also the author of ‘The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge and The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves’. In conversation with scholar, economist and columnist Shruti Rajagopalan, he discusses the importance of collective and collaborative innovation and its significance in the shaping of the 21st century. 

This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFHouston2020.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and academic W. Caleb McDaniel’s latest book, ‘ Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America ’, is a stirring narrative of Henrietta Wood’s journey from being a twice-enslaved woman to her fierce battle for justice and reparation. In a conversation author and editor Morgan Jerkins, McDaniel examines the unforgettable lessons of Henrietta’s life and the value of the moral victory it represents.

This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFHouston2020.

Ajume H. Wingo, Christophe Jaffrelot, Gideon Levy, Makarand R. Paranjape and Mukulika Banerjee in conversation with Milan Vaishnav.

While the notion of democracy had its birth in Ancient Greece and gained currency in the 18th century revolutions in France and America, it was in the 20th century that it became a global aspiration. Yet each nation that professes allegiance to democracy has a shifting definition of what the concept entails. A distinguished panel of speakers examine the constitutional safeguards as well as the civic attitudes that define the critical parameters of democractic process. Christophe Jaffrelot's recent publications include India’s First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977, The Majoritarian State: How Hindu Nationalism is Changing India, and Dr. Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste. Ajume H. Wingo has published widely on liberal democratic philosophy and politics, particularly on institutional building in places where there are non-liberal democratic or illegitimate political institutions. He is the author of Veil Politics in Liberal Democratic States. Gideon Levy is a journalist and author of The Punishment of Gaza. Mukulika Banerjee was the inaugural director of the LSE South Asia Center and is associate professor in social anthropology at the London School of Economics. Her books include Why India Votes?, and the recently completed monograph, Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India. Milan Vaishnav is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is the author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics. A crucial conversation on the pulse and vital parameters of democracy around the world.

This episode is the audio version of a live online session from #JLFColorado2020.