Fog scripts changes for Soyinka, Shabana at Jaipur fest

JAIPUR - Nobel Prize winning author Wole Soyinka and the Queen of Bhutan were among those who could not make it to the Jaipur Literature Festival on time due to Thursday’s fog that disrupted international and domestic flights.

At 10 a.m., the sun broke through the early morning mist in Jaipur, but writer William Dalrymple, one of the organisers, apologised for the delay in international flights that held up several foreign writers and caused last-minute changes in reading sessions.

Soyinka and the Queen of Bhutan, who were scheduled to address sessions in the morning, failed to make it to the venue because of the delays, he said.

Dalrymple also said there were visa procurement snags that forced many writers like Henry Louis Gates Jr and Andrew Lycett to cancel their visits.

Actress Shabana Azmi was supposed to be at the festival on its inaugural day for her mother’s book, Kaifi Aur Main. But her flight to Jaipur from Delhi was cancelled. Last heard, she was planning to make the journey by road.

Over 200 writers were scheduled to take part in the festival that, in its biggest avatar yet, is taking place at the Diggi Palace in the heart of the city.