Crime writing better than crime: Namita

Jaipur: A wave of crime writing is better than a wave of crime, said author Namita Gokhale at the launch of the “Crime Writers’ Association of South Asia”, during the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival on Monday.

"Crime novels are like pressure cooker in the society. They provide a certain function in the psychological makeup of the society", Gokhale said. The Crime Writers Association for South Asia has been co-founded by Namita Gokhale and author Kishwar Desai.

"The Association will play an important role because we are trying to give a platform for crime writers whether they be in fiction or non-fiction. All of them should come together on this platform connecting with publishers and agents", Kishwar said. Desai said that we are working towards a festival on crime fiction later this year where in we will celebrate a weekend of crime writing

According to Namita, co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, the festival which is being scheduled for September this year, will contribute to the existing explosion of crime fiction in the country. "It will be a two day crime literature festival where we will also invite Scandinavian authors as crime writing is one of the great genres of Scandinavian fiction. We will also be inviting Crime writer’s association in the UK for the festival", Kishwar said.

The Association is supported by NORLA, (Norwegian Fiction and Non-Fiction Abroad). NORLA is a government-funded, non-commercial foundation which promotes Norwegian literature to other countries. Margit Walso, Director of NORLA, congratulated the founding members and said that she hoped to see even greater translation between the popular Norwegian crime writers and Indian languages. Jorn Lier Horst, winner of Crime Writers association of Norway Prize this year said that crime writing is one most important and popular genre of fiction, and echoed the need for greater translation, particularly when writing in a country with a population of 5 million people. The Crime Writers’ Association South Asia is linked to the Crime Writers’ Association in the UK, which was set up by prolific author John Creasey in 1953. It is also building links to other countries which have a strong base in crime writing, both fiction and non-fiction.

Pratham Books Programme

Jaipur Literature Festival has once again championed young writers through their outreach and engagement activities in and around Jaipur.

For the third year, the Festival has partnered with Pratham Books to produce over 25 interactive sessions, promoting the love of books to schools across Jaipur.

Authors taking part this year include, Paro Anand (author), Valentina Trivedi (storyteller), Anita Mani (Storyteller/news-for-children newspaper editor), Ajit Narayan (Illustrator/cartoonist), Devyani Bhardwaj (Poet/journalist/translator). Visiting Festival authors include journalist and author of When the Crocodile Eats the Sun, Peter Godwin, Harvard history professor and author of the award winning Liberty Exiles, Maya Jasanoff, actor, writer and director Mahesh Dattani and art historian Partha Mitter who specialises in Indian art.

Peter Stanley, a Professor at the University of New South Wales, festival author and outreach participant commented, "It was a pleasure to participate in the JLF-Pratham Books Outreach Program by talking to, and with, the students. I very much enjoyed my encounter with Young India, and wish we could have had longer sessions!”

Local author Valentina Trivedi said, "I was thrilled to field questions on creative writing process from the children many of whom might come up as authors in due course of time. It was one of the most fulfilling experiences for me."

Himanshu Giri, Chief Operating Officer of Pratham Books added that the children and institutions at Jaipur have given us overwhelming response and it is quite likely that by next year we will double the number of sessions for outreach at Zee JLF and make attempt to reach to more and more children.