Across India, January is increasingly being associated with literature festivals. Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and the state of Gujarat, all celebrate indigenous and international literature – each with their inimical selection of authors and other personalities gracing the stage. In Jaipur, the literature festival started off as a small effort and today, is being touted as ‘the world’s largest free literature event’ – and its history and acclaim made us curious enough to attend it this year.

On the foggy morning drive to the pink city – we scanned the festival schedules to decide upon the sessions we’d like to attend, an important stage as with parallel events, one often misses out on more than one would like to. We reached our hotel – the heritage property Narain Niwas Palace, had a quick lunch and headed down the road to Diggi Palace – the potpourri of literary hubbub.