Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival unveils stellar lineup for 2026 edition

The 17th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF) is set to return from January 9 to 11, 2026, with a power-packed three-day celebration of books, ideas and cultural dialogue at the Alipore Museum, along with select sessions at The Park, Kolkata.

This year’s edition brings together more than 100 prominent voices from literature, cinema, politics, wellness, journalism and the arts. Among the key names in the lineup are Aparna Sen, Madhabi Mukherjee, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Jeet Thayil, Jerry Pinto, Shobhaa De, Brinda Karat, Luke Coutinho, Mallika Dua, Usha Uthup, Anand Neelakantan, Benyamin and Amit Lodha, alongside several international writers and scholars.

The curated programme spans themes such as gender, mythology, history, crime writing, wellness, translation and contemporary social discourse. The festival will also mark centennial tributes to Mahasweta Devi and filmmaker Raj Khosla.


Highlights include sessions such as Aparna Sen Unplugged, Motherlode: Mining the Myths, Celebrating the City: An Adda, Tok Jhaal Mishti: What Sets Bengal’s Cuisine Apart, and conversations on literature, cinema, identity and urban culture. The opening day features the inauguration with Usha Uthup and the launch of Madhabi Mukherjee’s memoir, followed by discussions on mythology, cinema and wellness.

The final day will see crime and thriller discussions with Amit Lodha, reflections on life and mortality with Jerry Pinto, conversations on sensuality with Shobhaa De, and Jeet Thayil’s session on The Elsewhereans. The festival will conclude with the Kolkata launch of Dr. Shashi Tharoor’s The Sage Who Reimagined Hinduism.

With its diverse slate of speakers, landmark tributes and expansive themes, AKLF 2026 aims to deliver a thought-provoking edition rooted in Kolkata’s rich cultural and intellectual heritage.