William Dalrymple slams ‘The Guardian’ for claiming most Indians don’t read for pleasure: ‘Ignorant

William Dalrymple, who is also the co-founder and co-director of Jaipur Literary Festival, added that it attracts a cross-section of society — from rickshaw drivers and schoolteachers to office-goers and students. (Image credit: Instagram)

Historian and author William Dalrymple has sharply criticised a recent article by The Guardian that questioned why India hosts more than 100 literature festivals despite allegedly low levels of leisure reading. The report, cited widely in subsequent coverage, argued that India’s profusion of lit fests sits uneasily with surveys suggesting limited reading-for-pleasure habits. Dalrymple and several writers, festival organisers and readers have since rebutted the premise, calling it reductive and disconnected from India’s literary reality.

Dalrymple, co-founder of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), dismissed the article as “irritating and ignorant”, noting that JLF’s literary sessions draw “massively crowded” audiences of “passionate, nerdy young readers”. He said authors regularly experience the longest signing queues of their careers at the festival and highlighted that the 2025 edition sold more than 44,000 books in five days.

Irritating & ignorant article: our @JaipurLitFest literary sessions are massively crowded with passionate, nerdy young readers & our authors regular report the longest signing queues of their careers: in 5 days of the last JLF we sold over 44,000 bookshttps://t.co/lC6EVLF1Qa

— William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) February 10, 2026

He added that JLF attracts a cross-section of society — from rickshaw drivers and schoolteachers to office-goers and students — and pointed out that its programming ranges from Nobel and Booker winners to Dalit poets and traditional Rajasthani bhopas (folk singers).

Readers and writers question article’s logic

Reactions across social media echoed similar concerns. Many argued that the very scale of India’s literary festivals undercuts the article’s claim. Several respondents noted that India’s thriving second-hand book markets, street bookstalls and multilingual publishing ecosystem contradict the idea that the country lacks a meaningful reading culture. Others pointed out that the article fails to account for India’s deep oral storytelling traditions, which coexist with — rather than replace — book reading.

Me, a Bengali, WHERE TAGORE IS FROM reading this headline wtf https://t.co/8Bwqc6otex — Tulika Bose (@TulikaBose_) February 10, 2026

Critics also questioned the logic of equating spectacle with superficiality. Drawing parallels with events like the Frankfurt Book Fair, they argued that glamour does not imply a decline in reading but reflects the cultural vibrancy surrounding books. The suggestion that festival energy diminishes literary seriousness, they said, misreads how Indian readers encounter and celebrate literature.