Kerala Literature Festival 2025 Dates Are Out! Here's What We're Excited About

With a beautiful melange of literature and scenic views, the Kerala Literature Festival is back with another edition. KLF 2025, to be held from 23rd to 26th January, at Kozhikode Beach promises to be one of the best events to attend in 2025. One of the largest literary events in Asia, the Kerala Literature Festival regularly features a stellar lineup of speakers each year. This includes Nobel Laureates, Oscar winners, Booker Prize winners, and best-selling authors.

held annually on the beaches of Kozhikode, India's first ever UNESCO City of Literature, KLF also has many other performances that enthral the fest visitors each year. With no admission fee, these include music and drama performances, and many interactive activities that make it a fun visit for not just serious bookworms but also people who are still finding their favourites.

New at Kerala Literature Festival 2025

For the eighth edition of KLF, apart from K Satchidanandan, the esteemed poet and critic taking on the role of Festival Director, France will be the Guest Director Country. For the uninitiated, each year, KLF invites a guest nation, fostering a cultural exchange like no other. While last year it was Türkiye, this year, for the literary festival 2025 edition, it’ll be France. Kerala Literature Festival 2025 will also see 6 Booker Prize winners speak at this edition, including Jenny Erpenbeck, the winner of the 2024 edition of the prize. 
There will also be other esteemed authors that you can attend the sessions for, like Nobel laureate Esther Duflo, who post the KLF will also be seen at the Jaipur Literature Festival in early February. JLF’s festival co-director and historian William Dalrymple will also be seen at KLF talking about his latest release.

Children's Kerala Literature Festival (CKLF)

Not just for adults, KLF has a separate section for kids as well. With interactive activities and fun games, KLF’s kids section, which the festival has named Children’s Kerala Literature Festival also aims at encouraging more and more youngsters to develop reading habits. Combining experts from all walks of life, and stellar storytelling, this section is a perfect way to induce an interest in reading for kids and young adults.

Biggest names at Kerala Literature Festivals 2025

For the festival goers at KLF this year, there’s an esteemed lineup of 500+ speakers from 15 countries. Here are some we are very excited to see at the Literary Festival 2025

• Catherine Chidgey: One of the finest writers New Zealand has produced, Catherine Chidgey’s The Wish Child and The Axeman’s Carnival have both won the Acorn Prize for Fiction, the country's most prestigious literary award.
• Roopa Pai: Having written more than 30 books for them, Roopa Pai is one of the most loved children’s literature authors in India. She isn’t limited to the kid’s section, however. Pai has also been behind gems like Cubbon Park: The Green Heart of Bengaluru, the first-ever history of Bengaluru’s iconic 152-year-old park.
• Anirudh Kanisetti: A historian specializing in ancient and early medieval Indian history, Anirudh Kanisetti is the author of the book titled Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas. He is also the winner of many accolades such as the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman and the Tata Literature Live’s Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award.
• Meena Kandasamy: A poet, writer, translator, anti-caste activist and academic, all rolled into one, Meena Kandasamy is the author of two poetry collections, Touch and Ms Militancy, as well as three novels, The Gypsy Goddess, When I Hit You and Exquisite Cadavers.
• Chowra Makaremi: An acclaimed French author, anthropologist and director, Chowra Makaremi is the author of the critically acclaimed works, Woman! Life! Freedom! and Aziz’s Notebook.
• Venki Ramakrishnan: The winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Venki Ramakrishnan is also the author of a popular memoir, Gene Machine, and Why We Die. While the first deals with the topic of race for the structure of the ribosome, the second is a stellar book about the biology of ageing and our current efforts to combat it
• Paul Lynch: With 5 critically acclaimed novels under his belt, Paul Lynch is the winner of the 2023 Booker Prize for Prophet Song. His other works have been awarded too, and earlier this year he was also elected to Aosdána, which honors artists who have made outstanding contributions to the creative arts in Ireland.