The British Council had a significant presence at this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival as part of the wider cultural programme ‘India 09: Through Fresh Eyes’ that aims to highlight the India Market Focus at London Book Fair 2009 through participation in a series of literature festivals, workshops and readings in India and the UK.

As well as enabling several UK authors to attend the festival, there were three British Council sessions including:

• ‘Found in Translation’ where eight authors each from UK and India, sharing almost a dozen languages between them came together in a session of readings and discussion around the themes of literary translation and cross-cultural exchange. It came at the end of a week-long translation retreat funded by the British Council and Wales Arts International at Neemrana Fort.

• A Publisher’s session where a delegation of six UK publishers set out the innovative ways in which they are attracting new audiences.

The Council had also offered ‘bursaries’ to six Indian literature students present at the festival who contributed to the daily diary of the festival. Click here to find out more.

A longer account is provided on the British Council India website.

Image: Namita Gokhale in conversation with writer Chetan Bhagat at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2009.