The revelation for many participants was the quality of the new Pakistani writers, such as Mohammed Hanif, whose novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes explores the dictatorial rule of General Zia, along with Daniyal Mueenuddin, who writes for the New Yorker and Nadeem Aslam, author of Season of the Rainbirds and Maps for Lost Lovers. Hindu zealots had threatened to burn any bookshops that stocked Pakistani literature in the wake of the Bombay terrorist attacks but fortunately the organisers decided to ignore such bombast. Sadly, Ahmed Rashid, the foremost expert on the Taleban and Central Asian Jihad, cancelled his appearance in the wake of such threats but promises to return next year.

What made the entire festival so memorable was the enthusiasm of the participants – and the fact that virtually every event was standing room only, with Punch and Judy style video boxes outside the palatial main hall so hundreds more could watch outside.

The organisers, including local author William Dalrymple, were slightly taken aback at the success of the festival, the fourth one so far. It was more than three times larger than the previous year and next year promises to expand into the seven-acre grounds behind the rather quaint gardens of Diggi Palace. And it was not just literary groupies from around Asia – hundreds of schoolchildren were given free tickets and apart from soaking in the lectures and events, they swamped the startled participants for their autographs.

What was especially heartening for me was to see a homegrown event like this rival or even out-perform the more commercial international literary festivals. The Hay Festival just had one in Colombia and is launching new ones in Beirut and Nairobi this year. They have the expertise and clout to roll them out wherever there is a literary culture. Yet Jaipur, which attracted more than 20,000 participants, is an endearingly ramshackle not-for-profit event that promises only to get better, despite no international input, save for the authors themselves. Note the date in your diary for next year – 20 to 24 January 2010. I’ll see you there.

Bruce Palling travelled as a guest of The Ultimate Travel Company (Tel: +44 207 386 4646; www.theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk)