There is something appealing about a literature festival that refuses to stay put. The Jaipur Literature Festival’s Island of Ireland edition concluded yesterday after 10 days of conversations and performances spread across Belfast, Armagh, Dundalk, and Dublin – the first time JLF has travelled as an all-island event.
Belfast’s Ulster University opened proceedings, followed by Armagh’s Robinson Library. Dublin closed things out at Trinity College and St Patrick’s Cathedral. The speaker list ranged from Shashi Tharoor and Leo Varadkar to William Dalrymple, Fintan O’Toole, Tishani Doshi, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Aanchal Malhotra, Roy Foster, and Jan Carson.
