Eminent writer, publisher and Festival co-director Namita Gokhale and Sanjoy K Roy, managing director of Teamwork Arts, the producer of the annual Jaipur Literature Festival at the Delhi Curtain Raiser of the upcoming 15th edition of the Festival rescheduled to run between 5 and 14 March 2022. Photo JLF
7 January 2022 – Teamwork Arts, the producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), rescheduled the 15th edition of the Festival today. Previously scheduled for the end of January, the Festival has now been rescheduled to run between 5 and 14 March 2022. Indian Printer & Publisher had reported on 6 January that an official announcement regarding the new dates will be made today. The on-ground program will be from 10 to 14 March at Clarks Amber while the virtual sessions will be from 5 to 9 March 2022.
Covid-19 cases have been rising steeply in Rajasthan with 2,656 new cases reported on 6 January, while the Pink City alone had 1,438 fresh Covid-19 infections. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and son Vaibhav Gehlot also tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday.
The Festival will follow all Covid-19 protocols that will be mandated by the Central and Rajasthan Governments during the time of its rescheduled dates.
Sanjoy K Roy, managing director of Teamwork Arts, who produce the Jaipur Literature Festival, said, “Keeping in mind the advent of the new variant and the sharp rise in the number of cases across the country, we have thought it best to reschedule the Festival and hold it in March 2022. We remain committed to bring the Festival back to Jaipur as an on-ground, immersive experience, promoting dialog, discussion, and debate on books and ideas.”
The annual Jaipur Literature Festival will be back this year at its cherished home – Jaipur – in a hybrid avatar with both its on-ground magnificence as well as its nifty virtual presence. The hybrid version will enable a larger audience to access the Festival offerings, reaching out to book-lovers across continents. There has never been a more powerful feast of literature, discourse, and camaraderie than this Festival.
Registration and access to the online edition of the Festival is free and open to all. Registration to the on-ground edition of the Festival will be available at Rs 200 per day.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
