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The Shillong Literary Festival 2026 – New Delhi Prelude was inaugurated today at Bikaner House, New Delhi, bringing together leading voices from literature, governance, cinema, journalism, and the creative arts. Organised by theDepartment of Tourism, Government of Meghalaya, the two-day national prelude marks a major lead-up to the mainShillong Literary Festival scheduled to be held in Shillong from November 12th to 14th,2026 as announced today, at the Bikaner House.
The festival aims to showcase Meghalaya’s rich cultural identity and literary traditions while expanding the national footprint of the State’s creative ecosystem. The initiative also seeks to strengthen culture-led tourism, encourage local talent, and position Meghalaya as a growing hub for arts, literature, music, and ideas.
A major highlight of the opening day was an engaging conversation between Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Conrad K. Sangma and senior journalist Shekhar Gupta, where discussions revolved around leadership, governance, youth aspirations, culture, and the evolving identity of the Northeast. The dialogue transitioned to Meghalaya’s focus on the creative economy and the promotion of consistent calendar events. Shri Gupta commended the Hon’ble Chief Ministerfor initiating the Shillong Literary Festival, noting that while he has attended many literary festivals, the setting, weather, environment, and audience quality at SLF are unmatched.
Discussing the vision behind these initiatives,Hon’ble Chief Ministeradded how the festival ties into a strategy to develop multi-event platforms, expanding on events like the Cherry Blossom Festival to ensure year-round engagement rather than random occurrences. Expressing his delight on the growth of Shillong Literary Festival, he said, “We started off small. Now we are seeing it grow. It has become a calendar event; and more importantly it is known throughout the country. And we thought that bringing it to Delhi- this prelude, would expose this entire event and would be able to reach out to the other parts of the country.” He added,“We hope that in the years to come, it will become a much-much bigger event, not just nationally, but even globally.”
Hon’ble Chief Ministeralso expressed the vision of the government in aspects related to Meghalaya’s growing creative economy, culture of entrepreneurship, emphasis on sustainable tourism, development in education sector and its rationalisation, and economic development of the state.
Delivering the welcome address, Dr. Vijay Kumar D., IAS, Commissioner & Secretary, Department of Tourism, Government of Meghalaya, said the Shillong Literary Festival has emerged as a platform celebrating the stories, literature, cinema, music, and cultural identity of Meghalaya and the Northeast. Highlighting the vision behind the New Delhi Prelude, he noted that the festival is an effort to place Meghalaya’s literary and cultural wealth on a wider national stage.
Referring to Shillong’s growing cultural identity, he added that as the city turns pink with cherry blossoms in November, its popular description as the “Scotland of the East” transforms into the “Kyoto of the West”, a phrase famously used by legendary author Vikram Seth during his visit to the festival in Shillong in 2024.
The inaugural sessions also placed the spotlight on the cinematic landscape of the Northeast. Acclaimed filmmakers Dominic Sangma and Pradip Kurbah, in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Suparna Sharma, discussed the evolving narratives, challenges, and opportunities for cinema emerging from the region. The speakers praised ‘Hello Meghalaya’ as a “saving grace” for independent filmmakers, highlighting it as an OTT platform that provides a supportive space to monetize and share their films at a time, when access to platforms remains a challenge.
The evening culminated with legendary actorNaseeruddin Shahcaptivating audiences through The Elephant and the Tragopan, a special reading fromVikram Seth’s celebrated Beastly Tales from Here and There. He interspersed the poems with James Thurber’s works and read out his four stories to the literary enthusiasts, who filled the house. Reading Thurber’s works like, “The bear who let it alone,” “The Tiger who would be king,” “The owl who was God” and “The very proper gander,”before Seth’s works, Shah drew a parallel with the calls nature’s offerings and human’s greed.
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