The city of Joy, Kolkata, is also renowned as the cultural capital of India. This intellectual soul of the country is all set to embrace the new year by upholding the city’s most highly anticipated event, the Exide Kolkata Literary Meet (Kalam) 2026. This is one of the most nonpareil and consummate occurrences in the city’s art season. Kolkata is not just another colonial city; it is the city of poets, bookstores, public readings, and a hub of Weltanschauung honing ideas. This city has housed India’s intelligentsia for a long time and is now ready to unfurl its literary quotient once again.
The Lit Meet
The event is scheduled to take place from January 22 to 26, 2026, at the Alipore Museum (the former Alipore Central Jail). This Lit Meet has earned the status of being one of the most plausible ones in the entire country. It incorporates the spirit of inclusivity with intellectual ambition, bringing together eminent authors, thinkers, translators, storytellers, performers, and audiences for five days of conversations that transcend genres.
This lit meet revolves around a multidisciplinary cultural format. It places literature in the company of other crafts, such as cinema, food culture, translation studies, music, wellness, and others. It is open to all and offers free entry. This public spirit and non-exclusive audience base are what make it a vibrant umbrella of adroitnesses. The upcoming event will be its thirteenth edition, and it looks forward to a seamless literary experience. The Kalam 2026 will open a portal to a world of words and ideas.
Electrifying the Intellectual Landscape
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This literary conclave is officially rebranded as Kalam 2026. This partnership with Exide aligns with the higher goal of the fest, i.e., to “ignite minds and power conversations” at a scale never seen before. The 2026 edition looks forward to a multi-sensory experience, where literature will meet music and other performances. The inaugural night has scheduled “Mile Sur,” a performance by the acclaimed duo Sourendro and Soumyojit, which aims to celebrate the diversity of India’s musical landscape. This musical opening sets the tone for a festival that is as much about the rhythm of the city as it is about the power of the written word.
A Glimpse of The Proceedings
| Aspects | Details |
|---|---|
| New Branding | Officially partnered with Exide to become “Exide Kolkata Literary Meet” |
| Festival Dates | January 22 – January 26, 2026 |
| Central Venue | The Alipore Museum, Kolkata |
| Official Website | kolkatalitmeet.in/2026 |
| Core Mission | To ignite minds and power conversations across diverse disciplines |
| Accessibility | Entry is free and open to all members of the public |
| Disciplines | Literature, translation, cinema, food culture, music, dystopian literature, and gender discourse |
The Sequence of The Fest
Cross-Genre Literary Conversations
Kalam 2026 brings forth a plethora of sessions with a lot of intellectuals. The inaugural session will begin at 3:30 PM at the KaLam Lawns, followed by an engaging session with Jhumpa Lahiri. She would engage the audience by taking them through conversations concerning place, language, and displacement. Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp session places gender and social justice at the forefront. Her work focuses on stories that traverse borders and lived realities.
Local Voices with Global Resonances
Interestingly, the curator Malavika Banerjee has highlighted a “dystopian yet contemporary” thread running through the sessions. On the second day, there are focused discussions on music (Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Suresh Talwalkar, and Kathakali Jana), social critique, political imagery, and a lot more. Popular icons like Anupam Roy and Javed Akhtar are going to adorn the venue with their charisma. A tinge of history is also tapped through Uma Das Gupta’s “A History of Shantiniketan,” and “The Forgotten Indian Prisoners of World War II” by Gautam Hazarika.
Authors like Barbara Kingsolver and Keshava Guha will lead panels that question the environmental and political stability of our era. This contrasts beautifully with the nostalgic sessions, such as the discussion on the legendary film Sholay or the translation of the classic Chowringhee by Arunava Sinha. There are several film shows lined up as well under the label of “Talkies@KaLam.” For instance, there will be a premiere of “Manto” by Nandita Das, “Court” by Chaitanya Tamhane, etc. It will be called a day with “Ekok,” an eclectrifying Rupam Islam unplugged.
The Following days
The rolling days will also get more and more engaging with discussions on regional literature, Tagore’s classics, mythological discourses by Devdutt Pattanaik, and a tinge of history and culture. There will be multilingual sessions targeting a larger audience base. Infact, the young adults’ favourite Durjoy Datta is also hailing the fest. There will be thorough talks on themes of hope, displacement, political discourse, the evolution of arts in different parts of the country, and so forth.
The last day will feature charismatic artists like Piyush Mishra, famous authors like Jhumpa Lahiri, Amitav Ghosh, Aparajita Dasgupta, and others. Finally, this grandeur comes to an end with the KaLam Finale adorned by the performance of Ali Bangash & Ayaan Ali Bangash. Their timeless classical music with the legendary legacy of the Senia Bangash gharana, will pull the end curtain.
Key Highlights of the 2026 Festival
- After a 12-year absence, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri will take the stage on the opening day to discuss her “Roman Stories” and her deep creative journey with the Italian language.
- Jnanpith awardee Amitav Ghosh will officially launch his highly anticipated new novel, Ghost-Eye, fitting the festival’s underlying “spectral” and “dystopian” theme.
- The shift to the Alipore Museum allows for a “Son Et Lumiere” atmosphere. Sessions like “Nowtopia” with Megha Majumdar and “Sholay @ 50” with Javed Akhtar will take place in the shadow of historic prison wards.
- The festival will honor the 100th birth anniversaries of legends, including Mahasweta Devi, filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, and the “Mahanayak” Uttam Kumar.
- A special segment dedicated to the “Focus State” of Maharashtra will explore its rich legacy in Hindustani classical music and Marathi theatre, featuring stalwarts like Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande.
- Each day will conclude with soul-stirring performances, including “Mile Sur” by Sourendro-Soumyojit, an unplugged set by Rupam Islam, and a grand finale sarod recital by Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash.
Takeaway: Why KaLaM Matters
The KaLam stands out for its intellectual generosity, curatorial ambition, and democratic spirit. It is a festival that understands literature not as an isolated artefact, but as a living nexus of culture, history, memory, politics, and performance. The “Exide Kolkata Literary Meet” is a brilliant move; it brings a sense of modern “power” to a tradition that is often viewed as purely academic. Kolkata’s longstanding reputation as a city where ideas thrive in the open air, where books are public property, and where every conversation is a site of transformation. If there is any city that can successfully turn a prison into a temple of words, it is Kolkata.
