My Great Big India Adventure!
I have been quite silent on the blog for the last few weeks, but I promise, I have good reason.
I have just got back from the most amazing visit to the Jaipur Literature Festival in India, where I was presenting a session on Seamus Heaney. Now, I’m going to warn you early in this post – if other people’s holiday pictures bore you, then look away now. Because I’m going to share a few pictures (OK, maybe more than a few!) . And there may be some name-dropping, but I’ll try to keep that to a minimum.
Courtesy of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the British Council, I was invited to participate in the 2018 Jaipur Literature Festival. Billed as the ‘greatest literary show on earth’ the Festival is a riot of colour, books, ideas and inspiration.
Think Glastonbury for books – the Festival encompasses 5 stages hosting more than 100 sessions over 5 wonderful days. The Festival is free, which means that last year there were over 300,000 people attending, the majority being young, selfie- loving literary fans.
I can’t argue with their numbers, the place was jam-packed, sometimes uncomfortably so, however, as a speaker, I had access to the Author’s Lounge where I could take a breather and stalk some very interesting authors including Shasi Tharoor, Bridget Fielding, Tom Stoppard and Michael Ondaatje.

I was on the bill with the novelist Glenn Patterson – if you have yet to read Glenn’s work, do! It’s fantastic. Glenn is also the Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queens University Belfast.

Together we presented a screening of the BBC NI film ‘Something To Write Home About’ exploring Heaney’s thoughts on place and borders and then we chatted a bit about the work that we do in our respective Centre’s.

Our talk was held in the stunning Durbar Hall and we were equally stunned to see a full house for our talk and an enthusiastic and engaged audience who asked insightful questions. In the picture below it looks like either Glenn is falling asleep while I talk, or like I have just made a bad smell, but I can guarantee that neither was the case 🙂

Once the talk was out of the way, I had the chance to just take in and enjoy the Festival. The pop up Bookstore was a real treasure trove, featuring the work of everyone taking part in the Festival, but I behaved and only came home with four books, one of which was a present.
One of the pleasures of the JLF is that almost every talk you stumble across is fascinating and I enjoyed hearing Charlie English talking about the lost manuscripts of Timbuktu; a lovely session on fathers with Keggy Carew and Sam Miller; Lisa Randall talking about dark matter and a panel of Indian, Irish and UK economists talking about the future of work.
I was almost crushed in the roaring crowds who greeted Bollywood star Nawazuddin Siddiqui (recently seen on the BBC in McMafia); had a lovely coffee and chat with Philip Norman, the biographer of The Beatles; ate dinner at the Opening Reception with the hilarious Dame Helena Kennedy QC and was blown away by a performance by the Indian poet and dancer Tishani Doshi, whose poem Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods has become a rallying cry for the #metoo movement and is strikingly powerful.

We also had the good fortune to crash the secure an invite to the Penguin Party on the Saturday evening, which was held at the Rajmahal Palace in Jaipur. I can safely say that I have never in my life seen anything like that party. I felt like I was in a scene from The Great Gatsby as we mingled poolside, drinking free champagne with Amy Tan. Yes, THE Amy Tan. I talked Brexit with Anthony Horowitz; mistook a hotel developer for Hamid Karzi; called Dominic Dromgoole, author and former artistic director of The Globe Theatre, ‘that Hamlet guy’ and marvelled at the opulence of the toilets.
What had been the most amazing night, ended in near disaster though, as the tuk-tuk we were travelling home in crashed, flipped over and went on fire. Thankfully all of us walked away from the crash with just cuts and bruises but it could have been much, much worse.
It was a dramatic end to my India adventure, but it turns out us ‘Irish bunch’ were the talk of the Festival, with rumours that it was our very loud rendition of ‘Come On Eileen’ that caused the tuk-tuk driver to crash just to shut us up. I can neither confirm nor deny this.
All things considered, I had the most amazing trip. I made some very good friends and met some incredibly interesting people, some of whom I plan to bring to HomePlace in the next year.
I know that Jaipur isn’t exactly local, but if you ever get the opportunity to attend, I highly recommend it. It is a true one off and an inspirational and exhilarating place to be.
The 746 amy tan girlsarecomingoutofthewoods glenn patterson india jaipurliteraturefestival penguin penguin randomhouse seamus heaney something to write home about tishani doshi tuk tuk zeejlf
Cathy746books View All →
I am a 40 something book buying addict trying to reduce the backlog one book at a time!
Amazing Cathy! The pictures are beautiful and the festival sounds wonderful. I’m glad the tuk-tuk crash avoided disaster – some people just don’t appreciate Dexy’s I guess 😉
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What can you do? He could at least have asked us to sing something else first… 🙂
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Wow, congratulations on a most exciting gig!
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Thanks – it was amazing!
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Sounds and looks amazing! Husband went to India and he said he’d stru to go back, he found the difference in wealth stark. I’m not sure I could handle it either to be honest! Glad you were all okay after your accident (adventure!) Great post and excellent pictures:)
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I’m not sure if I could go back either to be honest. The poverty is really difficult to deal with, it’s such a culture shock.
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Tuk-tuk aside, this sounds like a great adventure, Cathy. Congratulations!
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Thanks Susan, I’m glad I made it back in one piece!
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Sounds like an amazing opportunity. I am presently in Kolkata. The Kolkata Literary Festival just needed today but I did not attend. I am here in part to write, and to teach a session at Seagull Books. The first day or two were sensory overload but now I just grab my camera and head out. I decided to just do the one city and stay for almost two weeks. So far it has been incredible.
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Oh I’ve heard that the Kolkata is great too. A lot of the writers I met were travelling on to it. Have a fantastic trip!
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Magnificent. They certainly teach us how to do it properly – wonderful.
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It would be amazing to see that amount of interest here, just fantastic!
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Gorgeous photos from a place I may never be able to visit. Thanks for sharing!
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A pleasure Deborah x
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Sounds like an awe-inspiring trip, I love all the photographs and how colourful and exciting it all seems. India is a place I would love to visit, perhaps the literary festival will give me a good excuse to make it one day. Lovely blog.
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Thank you! I actually don’t think my pictures do it justice as they were all taken on my phone, but all that colour and light is never going to be properly captured in an image. I do hope you get a chance to go to the Festival – I would go back in a heartbeat!
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I am GREEN with envy at it all. Lucky you, and what an amazing experience! (And thank goodness no damage was done to anyone in the tuk-tuk.)
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It was marvellous – and yes, thankfully no damage!
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Sounds eventful, to say the very least. 🙂 This must have been such an amazing trip. Thanks for telling us about it.
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It really was Hanna!
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Wow! Congratulations. It sounds and looks like so much fun.
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Thanks! It was brilliant.
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Wow! Sounds absolutely amazing – thanks for sharing this with us! 🙂
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It sounds (and looks) amazing, Cathy. Thanks for sharing it with us. Love your pics!
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Thanks Kim!
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Sounds amazing – I am rather jealous 😀
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What an amazing experience! Love the photos and as for the Penguin party, who says there’s no money in publishing?!! Or is that writing.. Glad you’re home in one piece 🙂
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Well that’s what I was thinking Evie, someone somewhere had money to spend 😁
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What a fantastic experience. Thanks for sharing and for showing your lovely pictures.
Lynn 😀
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Thanks Lynn, the night time pics don’t do justice to how gorgeous it was.
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What an amazing experience. I would love to do something like this.
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Thanks Emma x
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Wow! This looks absolutly incredible.
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What an amazing opportunity and experience. I loved your pictures.
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Thank you!
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What a grand adventure! Thank you for sharing your trip with us. And I’m so glad you’re safe after the crash! Also, good job only coming home with 4 books. 😉
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I know! 4 books – I was quite proud of my restraint!
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Fabulous and a just reward (the lovely bits) for all the incredibly hard work you do. Lovely to hear about such enthusiasm for the festival and I loved the photos.
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It’s an amazing Festival Liz, but very crowded!
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It must have been so exciting to see yourself in that program, Cathy! I was wondering where you were…
Is it possible to be proud of a friend you’ve never met? 🙂
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Aw, you’re lovely! When I saw that programme I had a severe case of Imposter Syndrome and I was VERY nervous, but I got through it xx
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What a fab experience that looks. Well done for being invited!
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Thank you!
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This sounds like a crazy once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I loved the photos.
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Thanks Geoff!
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Well…WOW!!
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I know 😁
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Wow and thrice wow! India can be an assault on the senses (and the sensibilities) but its also invigorating. And oh boy do they love books. Last time I was in Mumbai and stuck in yet another traffic jam, vendors were going up and down the rows of traffic selling books. My friend told me they were pirate copies…..
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They do that here. But a marvellous place to buy books the next time you are in Mumbai is Flora Fountain- you could call it a flea market for books. We have written an article about it. Please do check it out- https://pavwadapepanchat.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/mumbais-flora-fountain-a-bibliophiles-dream-come-true/
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Fascinating!!!
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Fantastic travel and I’m so glad you had a great time. Totally deserved.
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Thank you 😙
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Amazing! I love all your pictures, I’ve always wanted to visit India, and now I know about this maybe I’ll try and make it a reality.
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It’s an amazing Festival Alice, I’d go back in a heartbeat!
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the next time you’re in India. you should visit Mumbai’ Flora Fountain. you will go crazy over some of the books you can find there. Please do check our article written about the place. https://pavwadapepanchat.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/mumbais-flora-fountain-a-bibliophiles-dream-come-true/
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I hope you also visited Jaisalmer (desert) and also had good time in Jaipur. ☺️☺️ lovely clicks ❤️😍😊
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Amazing! I love all your pictures.. well written…
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Thank you!
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Glad you liked a fraction of what my glorious country has on offer. Coupled to the fact that people who visit India want to come back again because of the amazement in the culture 😉
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Incredible adventure my friend! 🙂
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