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From Alex Ross To Mei Fong, 9 Writers We Can't Wait To Hear At JLF 2017

Don't miss them.
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Each year the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) brings some of the best writers from across the world to India. This year is no exception either. From a globally acclaimed scholar of religion to a renowned music critic, here are five speakers who we are keenly looking forward to listening.

Roberto Calasso

The Italian publisher and writer is an icon in his fields. A polyglot, he speaks French, English, Spanish, German, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit, apart from his mother tongue of course. Described as a "literary institution", he is best known among Indian readers for Ka, a marvellous novel created out of myths and legends from the Vedas.

Alex Ross

The New Yorker's music critic is perhaps the best in the business, known for his astute reviews in the magazine, where he has been a staff writer since 1996. Shortlisted for a bunch of prestigious non-fiction prizes, he is the author The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (2007), the go-to book for anyone interested in the history of Western classical music.

Mei Fong

An award-winning journalist, Mei Fong was a staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal in China, where she reported extensively on human rights and social policies. Her book, One Child, is a scathing indictment of the birth-control policies in the country which destroyed the lives of millions of parents and children. Her work is a testimony to the trials of an entire generation of Chinese, in the country and the diaspora.

Bruce Robinson

If you're a fan of Withnail and I, you know what we are saying — and you'll probably be skipping a beat or several by now. Maker of the cult classic, he is as witty a writer and hopefully speaker too!

Anne Waldman

Poet, performer, professor, editor and cultural activist, American Anne Waldman is the author of over forty books, including the experimental "eco-poem" Manatee/Humanity, and a feminist epic, The Iovis Trilogy: Colors in the Mechanism of Concealment, which won the 2012 PEN Center USA Award for Poetry.

David Hare

The British playwright and screenwriter, best known for his work on The Reader and The Hours, is a legend of contemporary cinema and theatre. He will be speaking on adaptation from text to screen, among other matters.

Paul Beatty

Last year's Man Booker Prize winner Paul Beatty's novel is a scathing satire set in America. Speaking on the eve of Donald Trump assuming office as the next US President, Beatty would be the one of the most timely authors to listen to this JLF.

Rishi Kapoor

One of Bollywood's most adored charmer has come up with his memoirs, appropriately called Khullam Khulla, and we hope he's also going to open up about all things secret and scandalous.

Mallika Dua

The sassy Instagram sensation, who has reinvented herself as an actor recently, has long had us in splits with her comic timing and pitch-perfect mimicry. Her session with Suhel Seth is likely to be a riot.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.