Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Shillong: The sixth Shillong Literary Festival returns to Ward's Lake from November 12 to 14. Organized with backing from the Meghalaya Tourism Department, the event connects thinkers, artists, and readers through performances and storytelling. It mixes Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo traditions with modern literary voices from across the globe. Last year saw over 13,000 visitors crowd the gates.
A new program dubbed First Bloom: Discovering New Writing from the Northeast aims to boost local talent. This initiative rewards emerging fiction and narrative non-fiction writers with a total prize purse of Rs 75,000. The winner takes home Rs 50,000, while the runner-up collects Rs 25,000.
Aspiring authors can attend two career workshops on October 26 at the State Convention Centre in Shillong. Literary agent Kanishka Gupta leads the 10:30 am session. Writers Mitra Phukan and Lalnunsanga Ralte handle the afternoon block starting at 3 pm. Each session seats 100 people. Sign up quickly. Registrations follow a first-come, first-served policy.
The festival schedule includes evening performances by musicians from the Chief Minister's Meghalaya Grassroots Music Programme. Food stalls will serve local cuisine. Organizers intend for the event to grow the region's creative economy. As the organizers noted, the festival is a way to create "opportunities for writers, performers, artists, local businesses and audiences."
This year builds on a pre-festival event held at Bikaner House in New Delhi, which hosted actor Naseeruddin Shah, journalist Shekhar Gupta, and 2026 Pulitzer Prize winner Suparna Sharma. Past festivals featured big names like Vikram Seth, Shobhaa De, and Shehan Karunatilaka.
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