With the Bhutan Lit Fest kickstarting tomorrow, literature fests just flew out of stuffy 5-star conference rooms into the wild mountainside. And everyone, even the average book lover, can drop in for free. Sowmya Rajaram finds out why literary agents, best-selling authors and bookphiles are suddenly looking for good walking shoes

IT'S what dreams are made of, or great scripts. You wake up on a sun-drenched morning in a 150 year-old hotel, set off on a city tour and get back before lunch to engage in a chat (in between hysterical laughter) with Zimbabwean-born Scottish writer Alexander McCall Smith. The evening sets in and you are holding a stiff martini in hand, your feet sunk into a fat bed of lush grass, while a beatboxing and poetry slam session are on. Ah!
An eventful holiday? You wouldn't be far off the mark, except that this is what the itinerary reads like on a typical day at one of the few literature fests that the sub-continent hosts. The fifth DSC Jaipur Literature Festival that was held in January this year is chased by Mountain Echoes, Bhutan's first ever literature festival that kicks off tomorrow in the capital of Thimphu. It's expected to be another 'bookish' event that's a melange of non-bookish activities, including travelling.



They've got the numbers
It's little wonder then that Le Passage, the official travel and tour organiser for the festival, has created a four-day pre and post-event itinerary for festival goers; one that includes long drives to Haa valley and Dochula Pass, known for their picturesque views and historic forts, squeezed in before and after sessions with graphic novelist Sarnath Bannerjee and author Chetan Bhagat, among others.u00a0

At the time this article was written, bookings for the festival were in the range of 80, a clear thumbs up for the marriage of literature and location. "We really didn't expect large numbers because this is a segment-focussed event. We are surprised," admits Ichcha Dhupia, Assistant General Manager-Special Projects at Le Passage.

The choice of location is rarely random. Award-winning writer and historian Patrick French says the Himalayan mountainu00a0 kingdom lends itself to the event perfectly. "It's one of the most beautiful places I've visited. It hasn't been destroyed by insane developers like much of the Indian Himalayas have." Interestingly, Young Husband, the book he intends to discuss here, has a mountain theme, with much of the story set in the Himalayas.

It's probably got to do with well-crafted planning on the part of people like Namita Gokhale, director of the DSC Japiur Literature Festival and programme consultant for Mountain Echoes. She says every literature fest needs a powerful local component to help connect the location with the books, sessions and authors chosen. "With Mountain Echoes too, the idea is to build voices from across the mountains and evoke them in the literature, music, culture and philosophy."

It's a free-for-all
For book lovers and literary agents, it means a planned opportunity to soak in culture while discussing literature.
Ahalya Naidu, book editor and founder of Literary Angels, combined a visit to the Jaipur fest with sightseeing and serious shopping. "I always wanted to see Rajasthan, and this seemed like the perfect excuse to do so. It fell in line with the Delhi Book Fair too. After Jaipur, I spent a few days exploring Rajasthan before I took off to Delhi," she says.