For the first time in the last six years, Pakistani writers have been invited to the Jaipur Literature Festival, India’s most popular literary festival. According to media reports, Pakistani novelists Moni Mohsin and H. M. Naqvi, as well as Nobel Prize-winning Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, will speak at the festival session this year.

The Jaipur Literature Festival has been held every year for the last 14 years but Pakistani participants were not invited to the festival due to the deteriorating Pak-India relations.

The Festival will be continued till February 28 and will feature over 300 speakers and performers representing around 25 Indian and 18 international languages and over 23 nationalities as well as major literary awards ranging from the Nobel, the Man Booker, the Pulitzer, the Sahitya Akademi, DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, JCB Prize for Literature.

Moreover the Jaipur Literature Festival presents not just stimulating conversations on literature and the written and spoken word but also includes musical performances giving it a vivid cultural backdrop.