The annual ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival announced its second list of speakers at a preview event at the iconic Royal Opera House in Mumbai. Billed as the “greatest literary show on earth”, the 11^th edition of the Festival is slated from January 25 to 29, 2018.

A number of Mumbai-based speakers will feature at the upcoming event, including bestselling novelist Amish who will discuss his reinterpretations of ancient mythology, including the enigmatic Sita and the complex divinity in Ram while Ashwin Sanghi — whose work straddles history, philosophy, fantasy and science– will shed light on his new book `Keepers of the KalchakraÂ.

Legendary couple Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi will discuss their poetic heritage through their respective fathers, Jan Nisar Akhtar and Kaifi Azmi, in a session on the  traditions of Urdu literature and author Kiran Nagarkar will speak about the ceaselessness of languages and the art of crisscrossing cultural and linguistic landscapes while actor  Soha Ali Khan will reveal all about her disarmingly frank memoir; and director, writer, producer and actor Anurag Kashyap will speak on his cinematic sensibility and consciousness.

Young readers are set for a treat with the unparalleled Anthony Horowitz, creator of the multi-million selling Alex Rider series, and the refreshing Julia Donaldson whose modern classics, The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child, have taken countless children on a splendid journey. The brilliant theoretical physicist Lisa Randall will also feature as part of the programming with a fascinating discussion that challenges the stereotypes of gender; historian, Harvard professor and author of The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World, Maya Jasanoff, discusses the journey of one of the most riveting figures in literary history; writers and journalists such as Peter Bergen, the author of Manhunt, one of the few to have interviewed Osama bin Laden and the first journalist to gain access into Abbottabad as well as Suki Kim, the only writer ever to have lived undercover in North Korea and the author of New York Times bestselling literary nonfiction Without You, There Is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North KoreaÂs Elite.

The list also features a number of names from the world of Indian literature, culture and media. Makarand Paranjape will discuss ritual and identity in a dizzyingly pluralistic world; film-maker Mira Nair will speak of her incredible cross-cultural journey as well as the rigours of adapting the novel into a dynamic screenplay; journalist Rajdeep Sardesai discusses his recent book on cricket; new age archivist Rohan Murty, who with his visionary The Murty Classical Library, attempts to make IndiaÂs magnificent literary legacy accessible to the world; poet Tishani Doshi will talk about her latest anthology, Girls are Coming out of the Woods; and Kannada author and playwright Vivek Shanbhag explores the diverse range of regional Indian literature.

For the first time, the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival kicked off its preview tour in Mumbai, bringing together Festival Co-Directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple and Producer Sanjoy K. Roy as they walked down memory lane and gave the audience a glimpse of the making of the worldÂs largest free literature festival. It was followed by a reading from DalrympleÂs The White Mughals with renditions by vocalist Vidya Shah.

The Getty Foundation, the British Council, the Aga Khan Foundation and Nordic countries too have come together to support and strengthen the Festival. Harvard University Press, The Murty Classical Library, Westland, Kindle Direct Publishing, Avid Learning and Kingfisher (as Good Times Partner) have also partnered with the Festival.