JLF 2026: Ideas Meet Present Pulse, Literature Explores Responsibility & Intimacy

• Jaipur Literature Festival 2026 transcended traditional categories, blending literature with politics, food, grief, and technology.
• The festival emphasized writing as responsibility, with authors using storytelling to bear witness to global issues from Gaza to climate change.
• Key figures like Kiran Desai, Richard Flanagan, and Stephen Fry contributed to discussions on loneliness, disturbing complacency, and the survival aspect of humour.
• A significant shift was the focus on intimacy, with sessions on food, wellness, grief, and sensuality, highlighting culture as lived experience.
• Discussions with ex-CJI DY Chandrachud, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and Leo Varadkar explored power structures and their impact on everyday freedoms.

Why It Matters: JLF 2026 fostered a mood of curious engagement, reaffirming literature's power to connect with the world thoughtfully.