Jaipur, Jan 23 (IANS): Jaipur BookMark, the South Asian publishing conclave that runs parallel to Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), kicked off on Wednesday amid celebrations marked by beating of drums and rhythms of traditional instruments at Diggi Palace here.

The Who's Who of the publishing business, including top editors and CEOs of leading publishing houses, bookstores and book fairs from India and abroad have descended here to participate in the sixth edition of the annual event.

The first day will open with the keynote address by Juergen Boos, the CEO of the Frankfurt Book Fair, who will be introduced by Margit Walso, head of the Norwegian Literature Abroad.

The day's line up on Wednesday will include a session on "Other Forms of Storytelling", with some stellar names like Paul McVeigh, Jan Carson, Daniel Hahn amongst others from the industry, followed by a crucial session, "LGBTQ Writes", which will explore a specialised genre in publishing and the challenges faced in bringing out gendered narrative in India.

Another relevant session, "Convergences: Languages, Markets and Readers", will discuss the synergies shared by the languages in India. The day will culminate with "Poems on the Road", an initiative by Walking Bookfairs of a 10,000 km long, tour of India, ferrying poetry books, across major cities and states to celebrate the importance of reading, writing and sharing poetry. This will be accompanied by poetry readings by Ulrike Sandig, Sohini Basak and Akhil Katyal.

The second day will see some crucial sessions focusing on the business aspect of publishing, content consumption and translations.