The Problem: 200 Events, 5 Days, One You

If you’ve ever attended the Jaipur Literature Festival, you know the feeling.

You download the schedule. You scroll through page after page of panels, conversations, book launches, and keynotes. Devdutt Pattanaik is speaking at the same time as that fiction panel you’ve been dying to attend. The poetry session you marked conflicts with three other things you want to see. And somewhere around event #147, your brain just… stops.

JLF 2026 has over 200 events across five days. That’s roughly 40 sessions happening every single day, often 6-8 running simultaneously. The abundance is wonderful—and completely overwhelming.

I’ve tried the usual approaches. Colour-coded spreadsheets. Highlighting the PDF. Asking friends what they’re attending. None of it scales. You end up either over-planning (and feeling stressed) or under-planning (and missing things you would have loved).

So I built something to help.

The Solution: An AI Festival Guide

What if you had a friend who had memorised the entire JLF programme? Someone who knew every speaker, every time slot, every venue—and could instantly answer questions like:

• “What events feature Devdutt Pattanaik?”
• “I’m interested in mythology and Indian history—what should I see?”
• “What’s happening on Saturday afternoon?”
• “I saved these 8 events—do any of them conflict?”

That’s what this chatbot does.

It’s not a replacement for the joy of wandering into an unexpected session and being surprised. It’s an enhancer of that serendipity. By handling the logistics—the filtering, the conflict-checking, the “what else is at that time” questions—it frees you up to actually experience the festival.

Think of it as a concierge, not a controller.

Who Is This For?

First-time attendees who feel paralysed by choice. Where do you even start with 200 events?

Returning visitors who want to discover new voices beyond the big names they already know.

The logistics-averse who love literature but hate spreadsheets. You want to read books, not manage schedules.

Groups and friends trying to coordinate. Share your saved schedule with a link and plan together.

Anyone who’s ever stared at a festival programme and thought: “This is too much. I’ll just figure it out when I get there.” (And then regretted missing something great.)

What You Can Actually Do With It

The chatbot understands natural language. You don’t need special commands—just ask like you’d ask a friend.

Find Events

• Type a speaker’s name: “Shashi Tharoor” → see all their sessions
• Search by topic: “fiction events” or “poetry” or “AI and technology”
• Browse by day: “What’s on Saturday?” or “Day 3”
• Look up specific events: “Tell me about event #44”

Get Recommendations

• “I love Indian history—what should I not miss?”
• “Recommend something for someone interested in mythology”
• “What are the must-see highlights?”
• “I have 3 hours on Friday afternoon—what’s the best use of that time?”

Build Your Schedule

• Click the ❤️ heart on any event to save it
• Your saved events appear in a dedicated panel
• The tool automatically flags conflicts (⚠️ yellow warning = these events overlap)
• Print your schedule or share it with friends via a link

Dig Deeper

• Click “Ask AI” on any event for more context
• Compare multiple events side-by-side
• Export your entire conversation as a PDF or markdown file

The Tech Behind It

For those curious about how this works:

The AI: The chatbot uses Claude, an AI assistant built by Anthropic. When you ask a complex question—like “What should I attend if I’m interested in the intersection of literature and politics?”—Claude analyses all 200+ events, considers your phrasing and context, and generates a thoughtful recommendation.

Why AI works here: Festival schedules are exactly the kind of problem AI handles well. There’s a lot of structured information (times, speakers, venues, categories) combined with unstructured questions (your interests, your constraints, your mood). AI excels at bridging that gap.

Anyone can build this now: Ten years ago, building something like this would have required a team—designers, developers, data engineers. Today, one person with an idea and some persistence can ship a useful tool in weeks. I’m not a professional developer. I’m just someone who was frustrated by a scheduling problem and decided to solve it.

What AI is good at: Synthesising large amounts of information. Finding patterns. Understanding natural language. Making connections you might not think to look for.

What AI isn’t: A replacement for showing up, being present, and letting the festival surprise you. Use this tool to reduce friction, not to optimise away the magic.

The Shift Is Already Here

Here’s something I’ve noticed: many people in the literary world—especially writers—are dismissing generative AI. It’s a fad. It’s soulless. It’s going to destroy creativity.

I understand the discomfort. But I think we’re living through something seismic—possibly as significant as the printing press.

The printing press didn’t kill storytelling. It transformed who could tell stories and who could access them. We’re at a similar inflection point. No one knows exactly where this goes. The predictions are all over the place—utopian, dystopian, and everything in between.

But one thing is certain: the old world no longer exists.

You can resist this shift, ignore it, or engage with it. I chose to engage—not by using AI to write, but by using it to build.

Three ways you could start exploring:

1. For writers: AI can help with research, brainstorming, organising notes, or building tools around your own projects. It doesn’t have to touch your prose.
2. The barrier is lower than you think: Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and open-source models are accessible to non-programmers. You can have a conversation with AI about your ideas without writing a single line of code.
3. Start with a problem you have: The best projects solve your own frustrations first. This chatbot exists because I was annoyed by a 200-event schedule. What annoys you?

Try It Yourself

The JLF 2026 Schedule Builder is live and free to use:

→ https://mohnishsharma.com/jlf

Sign in with Google to save your schedule across devices. Or just explore—no account required for basic use.

I’d love to hear what you think. What works? What’s confusing? What would make it more useful? Drop a comment below or reach out directly.

Important Disclaimer: This is NOT an official Jaipur Literature Festival website or tool. It’s a personal experiment I built for friends and fellow festival-goers. The data is based on publicly available programme information. Use at your own discretion, and always verify with official JLF sources.

FAQs:

• How to Use the JLF 2026 Schedule Builder

Welcome! This is your AI-powered guide to navigating the Jaipur Literature Festival 2026. Here’s how to get the most out of it.

Getting Started

1. Sign in with Google — This saves your schedule across devices
2. You’ll see three panels:

• Left: Browse all events by day/time
• Center: Chat with the AI guide
• Right: Your saved schedule

Asking Questions

Just type naturally! Here are things you can ask:

Find Events

• “Stephen Fry” — Find all events featuring a speaker
• “fiction events” — Browse by topic (history, poetry, memoir, etc.)
• “Saturday” or “Day 3” — See what’s happening on a specific day
• “#44” — Look up a specific event by number

Get Recommendations

• “What should I attend if I love Indian history?”
• “Help me plan a day focused on writing craft”
• “I want to become a better writer – what events should I see?”
• “What are the must-see highlights?”

Manage Your Schedule

• “Show my schedule” — See your saved events
• “Any conflicts?” — Check if saved events overlap

Building Your Schedule

Saving Events

• Click the ❤️ heart on any event to save it
• Saved events appear in the right panel

Spotting Conflicts

• ⚠️ Yellow warning = These events overlap in time
• You’ll need to choose between conflicting events

Browsing Events

• Use the left panel to browse by day
• Click a time slot to expand and see all events
• Toggle between List and Grid views

Useful Features

Quick Tips

1. Start broad — Ask about your interests, then narrow down
2. Save as you go — Heart events you’re interested in
3. Check conflicts daily — The tool warns you about overlaps
4. Use “Ask AI” — Click it on any event for deeper insights
5. Print before the festival — Take your schedule offline

Example Session

You: “I’m interested in fiction and mythology”

Bot: Here are some great options…

     [Shows relevant events with save buttons]

You: “Tell me more about event #194”

Bot: [Detailed info about Epic Women panel]

You: “What conflicts with that?”

Bot: [Shows other events at the same time]

Need Help?

Just type “help” in the chat anytime for quick tips!

What would you build if you could? Let us know in the comments.

This is NOT an official JLF website. It’s a personal project by Mohnish Sharma to help friends plan their festival experience.

Mohnish Sharma is a systems thinker and builder based in Chandigarh, India. He writes about the intersection of AI, creativity, and decision-making at mohnishsharma.com. This is his first experiment in building AI tools for cultural experiences.