When the largest free literary festival in the world first began expanding to international locations just over a decade ago, Dr. Alka Kurian knew Seattle would be a perfect addition to the lineup.
Seattle is one of UNESCO’s 53 Cities of Literature and home to a vibrant culture of reading, writing and all things literary. The diverse array of authors, organizations, independent booksellers, workshops and events makes it an obvious choice to host one of the largest literary festivals in the world, said Kurian, an associate teaching professor in the University of Washington Bothell’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.
Now, after 10 years of working to make the event possible, Kurian is excited to see Seattle become the next international chapter in the book that is the Jaipur Literature Festival.
“The Jaipur Literature Festival is the gem of literary festivals,” she said, “As one of the most literary cities in the United States and a UNESCO City of Literature, Seattle is, to me, the ultimate destination for a literary festival.”
The inaugural JLF Seattle festival will take place Sept. 20-22, 2024, at the Seattle Asian Art Museum and Town Hall Seattle.
Rooted in India, expanded around globe
The Jaipur Literature Festival, founded 17 years ago by Indian novelist Namita Gokhale and India-based Scottish historian William Dalrymple, was in part inspired by the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the largest literature festival in the world.
Although the annual festival located in Jaipur (capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan) has strong roots in India, its co-founders aimed to produce a global event that would bring in speakers and attendees from around the world and from across cultures. With the help of the event producer Teamwork Arts, the event went on to draw record-breaking crowds in India.
After several successful years, the event expanded through JLF International in 2013, branching out to major cities such as London; Toronto; and Belfast, Ireland. The festival then made its way to the United States, with events in Houston; New York; and Boulder, Colorado. This year, Seattle and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, join the annual lineup.
Kurian first heard about JLF while teaching gender studies at the University of Sunderland in England. Kurian and Gokhale met when Gokhale’s daughter took her class. Later, when the festival began making its international debut and Kurian was teaching at UW Bothell, she began passionately to make the case for a Seattle edition of the event.
“Jaipur Literature Festival in India is incredible—in its scope, energy, and vibrancy. We are excited to see the passion and effort being put into bringing this experience around the world,” she said. “The U.S. festivals were a huge success, and I know Seattle can be as well.”
Creating spaces, fostering conversation
As an academic writer with two books under her belt and a third underway and as a creative writer currently working on a novel, Kurian has long had a deep passion and appreciation for the written word.
One of the things she enjoys most about it, she said, is its ability to build community and invite conversation, particularly around cross-cultural issues. She brings this into the classroom, alongside her background in South Asian diasporic film and literature, to examine the politics of representation.
This is also, in part, what drew her to the idea of bringing JLF to Seattle, Kurian noted.
“Literature has the power to help our students learn about so many different cultures and different ways in which people live their lives,” she said. “Stories can help us understand humanity and make sense of our lives in a way that no other thing can, in my opinion. I love creating a space where we can come together and talk about all these things, and that’s why I seek opportunities that can help me create these spaces.”
With that goal in mind, Kurian founded the literary non-profit TRASAL (Traveling South Asian Literary Festival) with a mission to bring together diverse South Asian literary voices in conversations around key issues in South Asia and its diasporas. While she plans to use the nonprofit to create multiple literary spaces and opportunities across each year, JLF Seattle will be TRASAL’s flagship event.
“Literature has the power to help our students learn about so many different cultures and different ways in which people live their lives.”
Dr. Alka Kurian, associate teaching professor, School of IAS
Enlisting partners, on and off campus
Through TRASAL, Kurian began searching for partners to help make the event possible. She enlisted the support of local sponsors and partners, including Amazon; event venues such as Town Hall Seattle and the Seattle Asian Art Museum; and literary organizations such as Hugo House, Elliot Bay Book Company and Seattle Arts & Lectures.
“Without the efforts and support of community members who are the backbone of TRASAL and the JLF Seattle team, none of this would have happened,” she said.
She also found a supportive partner in UW Bothell as she shared her ambitions with her colleagues.
“Dr. Kurian came to me last year, her eyes alit with determination and passion, to share with me her dream of bringing the Jaipur Literary Festival to Seattle,” said Dr. Brinda Sarathy, dean of the School of IAS. “I was impressed by her conviction and now, a year later, the JLF is coming to Seattle.
“She has been the heart, head and hands behind this achievement! I will be cheering her on from the sidelines and am filled with pride to have such a visionary on our IAS faculty,” she added. “Alka has done an incredible job to find sponsors and partners, including UW Bothell, for JLF Seattle.”
Through the Office of Connected Learning, Kurian has also invited others to engage in the festival, including students in UW Bothell’s MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics program.
“I love to bring communities together. It’s something that really galvanizes me,” Kurian said. “Giving my students and my colleagues this international exposure — and for all of us to learn from other countries, from other authors, from other faculty — the atmosphere that results in the process, the energy that’s created in the process is what keeps me alive.”
The payoff of persistence
With the festival only days away, Kurian feels her persistence has already paid off in knowing that she helped to make the event possible. And with the hardest part behind her, she is making the final preparations and is eager for a successful outcome.
“We are very hopeful, excited and confident about this festival making a big splash this month,” she said. “We’re so proud to bring this festival to Seattle, and I feel particularly happy that it was a dream that I persisted and kept following — and now it is finally happening.”
Kurian hopes this year’s event will be the first of many to come. Seattle’s debut event features more than a dozen speaker sessions, with literary greats including New York Times bestselling author Ijeoma Oluo (“So You Want to Talk About Race”), award-winning author Sonora Jha and Pulitzer Prize winning poet Vijay Seshadri, as well as JLF co-founder Namita Gokhale.
The festival kicks off with an inaugural address on Friday, Sept. 20, at 6 p.m. at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. The festival then moves to Town Hall Seattle for Sept. 21 – 22. For a full list of the weekend’s events, visit the JLF Seattle website.
