Mysuru: Shubha Sanjay Urs, Founder-Chairperson and Director, Mysuru Literary Forum Charitable Trust and Mysuru Book Clubs-2015 participated in the Jaipur Bookmark’s “Director’s Roundtable” alongside Festival Directors from around the world at the recently concluded Jaipur Literature Festival-2025.

The session, titled “A Fractured World: Literature Amid Conflict and Change,” explored how literary festivals can foster dialogue, bridge divides and shape cultural narratives.

Distinguished literary leaders included Namita Gokhale (Jaipur Literature Festival), Nicola Tuxworth (Cheltenham Literature Festival), Olga Drenda (Conrad Festival), Govind Deecee (Kerala Literature Festival), Irenosen Okojie (Black to the Future), Jenny Niven (Edinburgh International Book Festival), Janhavi Prasada (Himalayan Echoes Literature Festival), Jessie Friedman (JLF Colorado, USA), Juan Manuel Guimerans (Spain Film Commission) and Alice Mong (Asia Society Hong Kong Centre).

Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, moderated the “Director’s Roundtable”. His organisation produces over 33 festivals in 42 cities and 17 countries, including the world’s largest literary gathering, the Jaipur Literature Festival, and its international editions.

Building a literary culture in Mysuru

During the session, Shubha Urs, Director and Curator of Mysuru Literature Festival, spoke about her journey in promoting literature that began in 2010 when she founded a Book Club for children and women in English under a registered not-for-profit Trust. Recognising the need to celebrate local literary traditions, she launched a Kannada Book Club in 2012.

“However, I felt that Mysuru, a city steeped in history and literary excellence, deserved a larger, public platform where literature could be showcased and celebrated on a grand scale. I launched the Mysuru Literature Festival in 2017, for which I invited six like-minded individuals to form a dedicated Trust that shared my passion for literature,” she said.

“Establishing the festival came with its challenges as many believed that literary festivals belonged in metro cities, not Mysuru. But I planned strategically and trusted Mysuru’s literary potential,” she noted.

Now, the festival has grown into a premier platform, attracting renowned authors, intellectuals and literature enthusiasts from across the world. “I prioritised quality over quantity, believing that an event’s impact lies not in its scale but in the depth of engagement it fosters. A recent example for this is an event featuring Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan, which received an overwhelming response,” Shubha Urs said.

Other Festival Directors too shared challenges and goals. Janhavi Prasada, despite being only three years into the festival with a modest audience of 300, wants to maintain a strict focus on literature when inviting politicians to the event.

Govind Deecee noted that their long-standing background in publishing naturally led to the launch of Kerala Literature Festival.

Reflecting on the evolution of reading, they observed that literature has transformed. What was once focussed on educational materials and traditional literature has now expanded into a dynamic and diverse literary landscape. The advent of technology has fuelled the rise of digital reading, making literature more accessible and inclusive.