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!

Colour and conversation at the JLF Melbourne Opening Gala: India Now.

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.

Gala host Sunil Badami’s closing speech, Where Are You Really From?

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.

Performing Poetry: Body as Text, where Raina Peterson and Priya Srinivasan performed Michelle Cahill’s poetry through dance and movement.

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.

Jaipur Literature Festival in Melbourne.

This project is supported by the Sidney Myer Fund and Arts Centre Melbourne for Asia TOPA. Asia TOPA is a joint initiative of the Sidney Myer Fund and Arts Centre Melbourne and is supported by the Australian and Victorian Governments.

JLF Melbourne is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, the UNESCO Melbourne City of Literature and the Victorian Multicultural Commission, and the Australian Government through the Australia-India Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.