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Sunita Williams to headline KLF 2026
Organized by the DC Kizhakemuri Foundation and DC Books, the festival is held annually in Kozhikode and draws speakers and audiences from India and abroad.
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Pranavi Sharma - Wed, 21, Jan 2026
- 12:28 EST
- 24
Sunita Williams to headline KLF 2026 / Instagram/keralalitfest
The Kerala Literature Festival is scheduled to take place in Kozhikode, Kerala from Jan. 22 to 25, 2026, and will feature speakers including Indian American NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Nobel Prize winning author Abdulrazak Gurnah, according to organizers.
Williams, who recently announced her retirement from NASA, is among the headline participants at the four-day festival on Kozhikode’s beachfront. The event will be inaugurated on Jan. 22 by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Organizers said the 2026 edition will feature more than 400 speakers from 18 countries.
Also Read: Sunita Williams says India visit a ‘homecoming’
Other announced speakers include writers such as Indian American author Kiran Desai, Economist Abhijit Banerjee, novelist Rana Dasgupta, former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq, historian Romila Thapar, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, author and parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor, and Olympic athlete and author Ben Johnson. Actor and filmmaker Prakash Raj is also scheduled to return to the festival.
Germany will be the guest nation at KLF 2026. The festival will host a curated program of German writers, thinkers and artists in partnership with the Goethe-Institut, under the leadership of Dr. Michael Heinst. Plans include a dedicated German Pavilion, workshops, performances and a light installation at the Kozhikode beachfront.
Tharoor will anchor sessions titled ‘Our Living Constitution’ and ‘The Life, Lessons and Legacy of Sri Narayana Guru,’ while Desai will speak on her Booker shortlisted novel ‘The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny.’
Organized by the DC Kizhakemuri Foundation and DC Books, the festival is held annually in Kozhikode and draws speakers and audiences from India and abroad.
“KLF has always been imagined as a space where the world’s ideas meet the public in the most open and democratic way,” Ravi Deecee, chief facilitator of the Kerala Literature Festival, said.
Discover more at New India Abroad.
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