How a small gathering became the world's great book festival
Jaipur has always been a city of scholars as well as kings. Sawai Jai Singh II, who founded it in 1727, corresponded with astronomers across Asia and Europe, and his library and observatory are still here. The literature festival feels like a continuation of that curiosity, set in a city that loves to talk.
Its first home: the festival began at Diggi Palace, a heritage hotel in the city, where sessions spilled across lawns and courtyards under bright shamianas, printed festival tents.
- Known as
- JLF
- Held
- Every January in Jaipur
- Programme
- Talks, debates, readings, music
- Languages
- English, Hindi and many Indian languages
- Edition in 2027
- The twentieth
- Its growth: year by year the crowds grew until the old haveli could not hold them, and the festival moved to a larger venue.
- Its home now: in recent years the festival has been held at Hotel Clarks Amer on Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, south of the old city, and the 2027 edition is announced there.
- Who runs it: it is produced by Teamwork Arts and curated by the writers Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple, its long-standing co-directors.
- Who comes: novelists, poets, historians, scientists, economists, politicians and journalists, from India and around the world. Among the first speakers announced for 2027 are the Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Olga Tokarczuk.
- Why it matters here: it puts Indian languages beside English on the same stages, and Jaipur's own students, teachers and families make up much of the audience.
When the festival falls
The dates: the festival runs over about five days in January. In 2027 the twentieth edition is announced for 14 to 18 January. We confirm the dates every year as soon as they are published.
The kites: in 2027 the festival opens on the same day as Makar Sankranti, when the whole walled city flies kites from its rooftops. Few cities offer a better first day.
- Usual month
- January, mostly the second half
- 2027
- Announced for 14 to 18 January
- Weather
- Cold mornings near 8°C, sunny days
- Also in January
- Makar Sankranti, the kite festival
- The weather: mornings in Jaipur start near 8°C, so bring a warm layer for the early sessions. By midday the sun is warm and the sky is usually clear.
- The evenings: they turn cold quickly after sunset. A shawl or light jacket is essential for evening music and dinners outdoors.
- The season: mid-January is peak season in Jaipur, with the festival, the kites, the wedding season and the winter holidays all filling the city.
- Read more: our guide to Rajasthan in January explains the month.
How the festival works
Register in advance: visitors register online before the festival. Entry arrangements and any fees change from year to year, so we check and handle them for you.
Delegate packages: the festival has offered delegate packages with reserved access, meals and evening events. We tell you each year what is available.
- Registration
- Online, before you go
- Sessions
- Several stages running at once
- Entry
- Day passes and delegate packages
- Signings
- At the festival bookshop
- Several stages: sessions run in parallel on several stages from morning to evening. Pick your must-sees the night before and leave room to wander.
- Session length: most sessions last about an hour, with questions from the audience at the end, which are often the liveliest part.
- The bookshop: a large festival bookshop sells the speakers' books, and authors usually sign after their sessions. The queues for the famous names are long.
- The crowds: weekends are the busiest days by far. Weekdays are calmer and better for getting a seat at the sessions you care about.
- Languages: many sessions are in English, and there are sessions in Hindi, Rajasthani and other Indian languages. The programme marks them.
What you will hear
Fiction and poetry: novelists and poets reading and talking about their work, from prize-winners to first-time authors.
History: a great strength of the festival, with historians of India, the Mughals, the Rajputs and the wider world arguing over the past.
- Politics and ideas: economists, journalists, politicians and philosophers debating the questions of the year, sometimes fiercely.
- Translation and Indian languages: sessions on writing in Hindi, Rajasthani, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil and many more, and on the art of translation between them.
- Science and the future: scientists and technologists on climate, medicine and the machines we are building.
- Book launches: many new books are launched at the festival, and their authors sign at the bookshop afterwards.
- Publishing: in recent years a publishing conclave for the book trade has run alongside the festival. We tell you if it is relevant to you.
A festival day, hour by hour
Early morning: a slow breakfast at your hotel. On one day, swap it for sunrise at Amber Fort as the gates open, before you head to the festival.
Mid-morning: the first sessions start. Choose two or three you care about and plan your route between the stages.
- Lunch: festival food stalls serve Rajasthani and Indian food. If you prefer quiet, our chauffeur takes you back to your hotel for an hour.
- Afternoon: stay for the afternoon sessions, or leave the festival to the crowds and walk the old city bazaars with your guide.
- Late afternoon: chai on a rooftop facing Hawa Mahal as the walls turn rose, the hour we never tire of.
- Evening: the festival has held evening music and cultural events in some years. Otherwise, dinner at your palace hotel or a haveli roof.
Jaipur beyond the festival tents
Amber Fort, at opening time
- Why: the palace-fortress of the Kachwahas above Maota Lake, with the Sheesh Mahal almost to yourself if you arrive as the gates open.
- Our rule: we walk or drive you up, and we don't book elephant rides.
The City Palace
- Why: the home of the former royal family, with private tours of the Chandra Mahal that take you into rooms most visitors only glimpse.
- When: late afternoon, after a morning of sessions.
The Jantar Mantar
- Why: Jai Singh's observatory of giant stone instruments, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the best place to understand the city's love of learning.
- When: near midday, when the sundials are at their most legible.
The bazaars and crafts
- Where: Johari Bazaar for jewellers, Bapu Bazaar for textiles and Maniharon ka Rasta for lac bangles.
- Further out: a morning with a block-printing family in Bagru, or the Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing at Amer.
Albert Hall, by night
- Why: Jaipur's oldest museum, lit up after dark, with miniature paintings, carpets and an Egyptian mummy.
- After: street food at Masala Chowk next door.
Jaipur's long love of words
Bihari's Satsai: the poet Bihari wrote the Satsai, seven hundred couplets of love and devotion, at the court of Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Amer in the seventeenth century. It is still recited across north India.
The Pothikhana: the royal library of manuscripts at the City Palace holds texts collected and copied for the Kachwaha rulers over centuries.
- Founded
- 1727, by Sawai Jai Singh II
- Court poet
- Bihari, author of the Satsai
- Royal library
- The Pothikhana, City Palace
- Bardic language
- Dingal, the old literary Marwari
- An astronomer's library: Sawai Jai Singh II gathered works on astronomy and mathematics in Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic, and had European texts translated.
- Dingal: the bards of Rajasthan, the Charans, composed heroic poetry in dingal, an old literary form of Marwari, praising kings and warriors.
- Copyists' lanes: our grandparents still knew which lanes of the walled city had been home to the families who copied manuscripts.
- Living tradition: Rajasthani poetry is still sung at weddings and fairs, and the festival often gives it a stage.
A reader's Jaipur
Chaura Rasta: the walled city's street of books and stationery, busiest in the weeks before school exams.
Manuscripts and miniatures: the City Palace museum and the Albert Hall hold painted manuscripts and miniatures from Jaipur's royal workshops.
- Handmade paper: Sanganer, on the edge of the city, is known for handmade paper as well as block printing. Ask us to arrange a workshop visit.
- Miniature painting: families of painters still work in the old city. Our page on miniature painting explains how we arrange a morning with one.
- Further reading: our pages on Sawai Jai Singh, the astronomer king and why Jaipur is pink are good preparation.
What most festival visitors miss
Sunrise at Amber: the fort at opening time is almost empty, even in festival week.
Dusk at Badi Chaupar: pigeons, flower sellers and the walls turning from pink to rose, the city's loveliest hour.
- Nahargarh at sunset: the whole grid of Jaipur spread out below, with kites circling in January.
- Galtaji in the early morning: the temple valley east of the city, with its sacred tanks and macaques, quiet before nine.
- The Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing: a small, perfect introduction to block printing in a restored haveli at Amer.
What to eat in Jaipur in January
Breakfast like a local: pyaaz kachori from Rawat Mishthan Bhandar near Sindhi Camp, then a clay cup of lassi from Lassiwala on MI Road before it sells out.
Winter sweets: til patti and gajak, made with sesame and jaggery, are everywhere around Makar Sankranti.
- Feeni: a nest of fine fried threads eaten soaked in warm milk, a cold-month treat in the walled city.
- Mawa kachori: a flaky pastry filled with sweetened milk solids and dipped in syrup.
- For a royal table: laal maas, mutton in a fierce red sauce of Mathania chillies, or the gentler safed maas, cooked in cream and ground nuts.
- Dal baati churma: baked wheat rolls broken into lentils and drenched in ghee, followed by sweet crumbled churma.
- Read more: our food of Jaipur guide lists where we eat.
Etiquette and good manners
Keep phones silent: sessions are close and crowded, and a ringing phone is noticed by everyone.
Ask short questions: in the question time, one clear question is welcome. A speech is not.
- Be patient in the signing queues: authors sign for everyone, and the queues move slowly.
- Dress for the weather: warm layers for the morning, sunglasses and a hat for midday. Smart-casual is the norm.
- Respect the city: if you go into the old city between sessions, cover shoulders and knees at temples and take your shoes off at the door.
- Learn one greeting: khamma ghani, the Rajasthani hello. Jaipur's volunteers and students love to hear it.
Going to the festival responsibly
Buy books at the festival bookshop: it supports the authors and the publishers who bring them.
Carry a refillable bottle: cut down on plastic, and refill where the festival provides water.
- Shop with the makers: in the old city, buy from craftspeople directly and say no, politely, to anyone who suggests a commission showroom.
- Tip fairly: the volunteers, drivers and hotel staff are working their busiest week of the year.
- Read more: our note on responsible travel explains how we work.
Before you go
Read the programme early: it is published some weeks ahead. Mark three or four sessions a day and leave the rest to chance.
Pack layers: cold mornings, warm middays and chilly evenings, all in one day.
- Register
- Online, before you travel
- Bring
- Layers, sunglasses, a tote bag
- Shoes
- Comfortable, for a lot of walking
- Busiest days
- The weekend
- Carry water and a snack: the food stalls are good but busy at lunchtime.
- Bring a tote bag: you will buy more books than you meant to. We can ship the heavy ones home.
- Charge your phone: the programme and maps are easiest to follow on the festival's own app or website.
- Plan one quiet day: three festival days in a row are tiring. A palace morning or a spa afternoon in the middle helps.
How we plan your festival
Book early: mid-January is the busiest time of the Jaipur year. The best rooms in the city go months ahead, so we hold them as soon as the dates are announced.
Nights: three or four in Jaipur gives you two or three festival days and a day for Amber and the old city.
- Book
- Many months ahead
- Allow
- Three or four nights
- Fly into
- Jaipur International Airport
- From Delhi
- About four to five hours by road
- Registration: we handle registration and any passes or delegate packages, and send you the programme as soon as it is published.
- Getting around: your chauffeur drops you at the venue and waits nearby. Traffic around the festival is heavy at the start and end of the day.
- Getting here: Jaipur International Airport has direct flights from Delhi and Mumbai. By road from Delhi it takes about four to five hours.
- A plan for each day: our planner marks the sessions you care about, so your day has an anchor and plenty of room to wander.
Where to stay
Rambagh Palace: the grandest address in Jaipur, the former home of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II and Maharani Gayatri Devi, and not far from the festival venue.
- The Oberoi Rajvilas: thirty-two acres of calm outside the city, with a spa for the evenings.
- Samode Haveli: a nobleman's townhouse inside the walled city, perfect for the kites if they fall in the same week.
- More choices: Jai Mahal Palace, The Leela Palace and Fairmont Jaipur. Our guide to luxury hotels in Jaipur compares them.
How long to allow
One festival day: enough to feel the atmosphere and hear two or three speakers you love. Pair it with a full day in the old city.
- Festival days
- Two or three for most guests
- City days
- At least one, ideally two
- Total
- Three or four nights in Jaipur
- Add on
- Samode, Ranthambore or Udaipur
- Two festival days: the right balance for most of our guests, with a third day for Amber, the City Palace and the bazaars.
- The whole festival: for devoted readers, all five days, with the evenings kept free for rest and dinner.
- Afterwards: a night or two at Samode Palace in the hills, an hour away, is the perfect quiet after the crowds.
Journeys and festivals to combine with JLF
Makar Sankranti
- Same week: Makar Sankranti usually falls on 14 January, when Jaipur flies kites from every roof. Our page on Makar Sankranti explains how we spend it.
Jaipur in three nights
- The city at the right hours: Amber at first light, the bazaars, the City Palace and Nahargarh at sunset, on our Jaipur in three nights journey, with festival days added.
The Golden Triangle and Udaipur
- Before or after: Delhi, Agra and the Taj Mahal, then the lakes of Udaipur, on our Golden Triangle and Udaipur journey.
Tigers and polo
- Ranthambore: three to four hours south, January is a good month for safaris in Ranthambore, with cold mornings and clear light.
- Polo: the Jaipur polo season is often under way in the winter months.
Winter festivals in the desert
- Bikaner: the Bikaner Camel Festival is held in January.
- Jaisalmer: the Desert Festival follows in February, around the Magh full moon.
The festival for readers, writers and families
For serious readers: take a delegate package if one is offered, stay close to the venue and give the festival three full days.
For writers: book a quiet room with a desk at a palace hotel, and keep the mornings for your own work and the afternoons for the sessions.
- For couples: one festival day, one day at Amber and the old city, and a private dinner on a palace terrace. Our private palace dinners page has ideas.
- For families: older children enjoy the signings and the crowds. Mix a festival morning with an afternoon at the Albert Hall or flying kites.
- For repeat visitors: add a day trip to Samode in the Aravalli hills, or a morning in the stepwell village of Abhaneri.
Who will love JLF, and who won't
You will love it if: you love books and ideas, enjoy hearing writers argue in public, and like the energy of a big, friendly crowd.
Couples and friends: a morning of sessions, an afternoon in the bazaars and a palace dinner is one of the best January days in India.
- Families: older children who read enjoy the sessions and the signings. Younger ones may prefer the kites.
- Less ideal if: you dislike crowds and queues, or want Jaipur's monuments at their quietest. January weekends are busy everywhere in the city.
- The alternative: come in February instead, when the city is calmer and the weather even kinder. Our festival calendar shows the alternatives.