Kiran Desai, Rushdie are star attractions of Jaipur fest

Jaipur, Dec 21: Booker prize winners Kiran Desai and Salman Rushdie will be the major attractions of the ten-day Jaipur Heritage International Festival, which begins on January 13.

The festival organised by Jaipur Virasat Foundation (JVF) will showcase a literary fest from January 19-21, with illustrious literary names like Amit Chaudhari, William Dalrymple, Namita Gokhale, Bhanu Bharti apart from Australian author John Zubrzycki, whose most popular book to date is 'The Last Nizam'.

The festival has been endorsed by UNESCO for the first time in 2007, informed spokesman JVF Mahvior Sharma at a press conference here yesterday.

With the aim of providing employment to craftsmen both in the rural and urban areas, the festival is a platform for creativity and sustainable development.

The only city festival in the world to be endorsed by UNESCO, this event is a unique example of partnership of several NGOs, corporate world and other organisations.

The festival will witness the performances of over 200 cultural artists, over 75 performances at 33 venues with over 100,000 audiences.

A new addition in 2007 is the Poetry Session, which will bring together seven most outstanding poets from each of the ''cultural regions'' of Rajasthan who will bring forth the romance, humour, valour, history of the state and and also political satire.

Gawali sessions, puppet shows from Spain, Turkey, and Australia will also take place.

As Australia is the partnering country an acrobatic circuse from there will also be a part of the festival.

2007.

The craft bazaar next year will don a new look with help of Delhi-based Dastkaar group, which will showcase the Dastkaar Nature Bazaar this time. The bazaar will hold workshops for students and the design interventions will be part of 2008's fest.

UNI