In April 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic forced a global lockdown, isolating millions, Teamwork Arts, the producer of the iconic Jaipur Literature Festival, launched “JLF Brave New World”, an online literature series to celebrate books, their power, and positivity. JLF Brave New World sought to address issues critical to our times apart from discussing poetry, fiction, environment, the writing process, geopolitics, war and conflict, art, music, food, fashion and more through conversations with renowned writers and leading experts from around the world. In just a few months JLF Brave New World has captured the attention of a loyal tranche of followers. Teamwork Arts announced that the series has reached 2 million (20,00,000) cumulative views and a reach of over 9 million (90,00,000).
The much-loved series has featured around 90 episodes so far and will be hosting a celebratory 100th episode on 29th July 2020. Sessions at JLF Brave New World has covered subjects as diverse as the political and economic impact of Covid-19, the creative process of writing, literature, climate change, psychological wellbeing and compassion in these challenging times, the art of poetry, technology, and Artificial Intelligence, etc. The series has hosted nearly 200 speakers including Abhijit V. Banerjee, Asma Khan, Benjamin Moser, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Colm Toibin, Devdutt Pattanaik, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Elizabeth Gilbert, Ira Mukhoty, Jhumpa Lahiri, Manu S. Pillai, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Orhan Pamuk, Paul Muldoon, Peter Frankopan, Peter Carey, Peter Morgan, Ruskin Bond, Rupi Kaur, Shubha Mudgal, Shashi Tharoor, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Sonal Mansingh, to name a few.
Sessions at JLF Brave New World include conversations with speakers as well as Q&A picked from social media channels where audiences can submit questions and share comments with their favorite speakers. The full archive of past sessions, as well as a list of upcoming sessions of the series, can be accessed via the #JLFLitfest social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
