The Jaipur Literature Festival inaugurates its second edition in Spain at IE University
IE School of Humanities hosted the inaugural ceremony of Jaipur Literature Festival Spain 2024, the 2nd edition of JLF in Spain, which will gather thinkers, novelists, poets, and storytellers in Valladolid over the coming days to share their insights on challenges and trends in the world of literature.
Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, Executive President of IE University, delivered the welcome address at IE Tower, the new headquarters of IE University in Madrid. Following this, Namita Gokhale, writer and director of the Jaipur Literature Festival; Dinesh K. Patnaik, Indian Ambassador to Spain; and Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts at Jaipur Literature Festival, spoke.
Namita Gokhale, who is also a jury member of the IE Foundation Humanities Awards, encouraged the writers and artists participating in JLF Spain to enjoy the ecosystem of diversity that is central to the festival's essence. “We are each other’s stories,” she emphasized.
After the inauguration, Roger Cohen, Paris Bureau Chief of The New York Times; Christina Lamb, correspondent for The Sunday Times; writer Vikas Swarup; and Manuel Muñiz, Provost of IE University, analyzed the fracture of the international multilateral order during the festival’s opening session.
Roger Cohen, a Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award winner, highlighted that “understanding” is the starting point for building bridges in complex conflicts where the involved countries fail to comprehend each other. Cohen referred to the impact of illegal immigration on developed countries and mentioned that a potential victory for Donald Trump in the upcoming US elections would be detrimental to an already fractured multilateral order.
Christina Lamb, a journalist awarded 5 British Press Awards and the European Prix Bayeux-Calvados, and author of the bestseller ‘I Am Malala,’ focused her speech on the rise of authoritarian regimes worldwide. Lamb warned attendees about the importance of strengthening democratic systems, emphasized the importance of education, and reminded that “it has been over 1,000 days since women in Afghanistan could go to school,” a country where she worked for several years as a correspondent.
Vikas Swarup, former Indian diplomat and author of the novel ‘Q&A,’ which was adapted into the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ analyzed the limitations of 20th-century multilateralism, which relied on the cooperation of major powers and overlooked emerging countries. Swarup pointed out that global challenges such as climate change and artificial intelligence have accelerated its fracture. “We need a new multilateralism that clearly listens to developing countries,” he concluded.
JLF Spain will host over 30 debates, cultural, sports, and gastronomic activities from June 13 to 16 in Valladolid. Susana Torres, a professor at IE School of Humanities and speaker at the last edition of Jaipur Literature Festival in India, will moderate one of the event’s panels, where, along with writers Vikas Swarup and Santiago Roncagliolo, they will explore the fragile boundaries between fiction and reality.
About Jaipur Literature Festival
Jaipur Literature Festival, an event held annually in the Pink City of Jaipur, Rajasthan, is recognized as the world’s largest free literary festival. The Festival is a global literary phenomenon that brings together writers, thinkers, humanists, politicians, business leaders, athletes, and artists on a single stage to defend freedom of expression and promote thoughtful debate and dialogue. JLF has editions worldwide in cities such as New York, London, Belfast, Houston, Boulder, Doha, Adelaide, and Valladolid, among others.