HOUSTON, September 28, 2023 — Presented in partnership of Teamwork Arts and Inprint, the sixth annual JLF Houston literature festival returned to Asia Society Texas with a day of thought-provoking panels, music performances, and author meet-and-greets amid a lively cornucopia of topics ranging from poetry to journalism to astrophysics.

The festival began with a morning music session with Vinay Desai and Shanti Lal Shah where Desai blended meditative and dynamic Santoor melodies with Shah’s tabla playing. The day’s opening panel featured an entertaining conversation between Sanjoy K. Roy and award-winning filmmaker Mira Nair, who shared stories about the making of classic films such as Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay! In another festival highlight, the panel “Forbidden Pages” — a timely discourse on book bans — featured local authors and educators Oni K. Blair, Tony Diaz, Salil Tripathi, and Dorcas Hand examining the topic from both a global and local perspective. Festival favorite Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni returned to discuss her latest novel Independence while Yale University professor Priyamvada Natarajan presented exciting findings about recent cosmological discoveries in “Mapping the Heavens: A Journey Through the Cosmos.”

The weekend of JLF Houston programming included additional events at University of Houston, the Rothko Chapel, and the Eternal Gandhi Museum of Houston.

Founded in 2006 in the Indian city of Jaipur, the Jaipur Literature Festival has hosted nearly 2,000 speakers in more than 40 cities globally in the past decade to fulfill its mission to serve as a beacon of free speech around the world. Other U.S. host cities include New York and Boulder, Colorado. At Asia Society New York, JLF New York featured politician and author Shashi Tharoor and mathematician Manil Suri, among other authors, poets, and musicians.

Previous JLF Houston Events

2022: Highlights | Details
2021: Details
2020: Highlights | Details
2019: Highlights | Details
2018: Highlights | Details

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.