JLF Melbourne
Melbourne Writers Festival joined forces with Jaipur Literature Festival to present JLF Melbourne, a festival that transported the magic, colour and excitement of India’s biggest literary celebration to Fed Square.
View photos from JLF Melbourne
The JLF Melbourne Opening Night Gala featured an exclusive keynote by internationally acclaimed economist and bestselling author Sanjeev Sanyal, and electrifying performances by Sofia Ashraf and Sampurna Chattarji. We celebrated the best of Indian and Australian writing and ideas with colour, conversation and chaijitos!
We were joined by nearly 5,000 audience members who came along for a full day of free talks, music, poetry, dance, art and kids’ activities. We explored culture, migration, identity and gender issues, politics, the environment, travel and history.
Among the international stars that appeared at JLF Melbourne were eminent transgender rights activist, dancer and actress Laxmi Narayan Tripathi and esteemed travel writer and former reporter Mishi Saran, alongside local literary talent and MWF favourites including distinguished writer and academic Tony Birch, award-winning poet Michelle Cahill, journalist and screenwriter Benjamin Law and journalist and political commentator George Megalogenis.
View blogs about JLF Melbourne
Connecting South Asia’s and Australia’s unique identities, the festival brought ‘the greatest literary show on earth’ to Australia’s City of Literature.
The two-day celebration was held in collaboration with Melbourne Writers Festival, Teamwork Arts and Fed Square, supported by the Sidney Myer Fund and Arts Centre Melbourne for Asia TOPA.