The 14th edition of the Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF) will be held from February 12-14 at the International Centre Goa, Dona Paula.
The festival, which is organised and hosted by the International Centre Goa in association with the Goa Writers group, is free and open to the public.
This year’s edition will see big book launches from Goa, an outstanding delegation from Singapore, and an enthusiastic Young GALF mini-festival for children and young adults.
This unique, homegrown fixture will be inaugurated on 12th February by the renowned multifaceted literary powerhouses, Easterine Kire and Rakhshanda Jalil, followed by the launch of Forest Recipes of Goa – Stories of Tribal Food by Assavri Kulkarni, featuring Remo and Sattari Baal Vivah Kala Manch. The official artwork will be unveiled by Alexyz.
The game-changing UK-based food writer and editor Jonathan Nunn (whose maternal roots are in South Goa) will make his GALF debut on February 13th, alongside many important book discussions including A Good Life: The Power of Palliative Care with Jerry Pinto in conversation with Dr. Armida Fernandez, The Dig: Keeladi and the Politics of India’s Past with Sowmiya Ashok in conversation with Dr. Vidya Dehejia, Meet the Savarnas: Indian Millenials Whose Mediocrity Ruined Everything with Prof. Ravikant Kisana in conversation with Prof. Vasudha Sawaikar, and Love, Sex and India: The Agents of Ishq Anthology with Paromita Vohra in conversation with Karanjeet Kaur.
Fish Curry and Rice – the long-awaited improved new edition of the iconic source book on Goa’s environmental heritage – will be launched on February 14th, as will Appetite:New Writing from Goa, an exciting new anthology from the Goa Writers group.
GALF2026 will feature exclusive presentations: The Jews of Goa: From Antiquity to the 21st Century by Dr. Shava Weil of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Caste: What Lies At Its Heart by Tony Joseph, and Tigers, Hunters and Shamans: Ruptures and Belonging in the Eastern Himalayas by Dr. Kaustubh Deka of Dibrugarh University.
The great doyenne of Indian translation Mini Krishnan will speak about her extraordinary work, as will the remarkable environmental writer Yuvan Aves.
There will be exclusive poetry readings by Ranjit Hoskote, Rochelle Potkar, Joshua Ip, Nor, Daryl Lim Wei Jei and David Rodrigues, and exciting book discussions with Arshia Sattar, Prof. Jonathan Gil Harris, Sona Bahadur, Vidya Krishnan, Anindita Ghose, Mahesh Rao and Keshava Guha.
