BENGALURU: International Booker prize winners Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi and author Vivek Shanbagh are confirmed to represent Karnataka at the ninth edition of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF), which will be held from January 22 to 25, 2026.
Speaking on Germany being this year’s guest nation, the director of Goethe-Institut Bangalore, Dr Michael Heinst, said, “As the guest nation, the German participation will feature a dedicated pavilion, a writing residency in Vagamon for German writers, as well as a creative writing workshop for young creatives writing in Malayalam.”
An avalanche of speakers, including Nobel Laureates Abdulrazak Gurnah, Olga Tokarczuk and Abhijeet Banerjee, will attend the four-day festival. Kozhikode, having been recognised as India’s first UNESCO City of Literature, will stage the festival.
This year’s KLF is set to feature over 400 speakers in 250 sessions. Germany will act as the guest country this year, with speakers from 15 more countries scheduled to attend. “The Kerala government has designated a part of the beach to be the permanent venue for KLF. According to our reports, each KLF brings about Rs 150 crore to the city,” he said.