The Department of Tourism, Government of Meghalaya, will host the Shillong Literary Festival 2026 – New Delhi Prelude on May 8 and 9 at Bikaner House, New Delhi, bringing together leading literary, cultural, and creative voices from across the country.
The two-day event will feature conversations, readings, performances, and discussions centred on literature, cinema, culture, food, identity, and the Northeast’s creative landscape. The prelude is being organised ahead of the main Shillong Literary Festival later this year in Meghalaya.
Chief Minister Shri Conrad K. Sangma will participate in a conversation with senior journalist Shekhar Gupta on the opening day. The event will also feature noted personalities including Naseeruddin Shah, Shobhaa De, Sanjoy Hazarika, Maharani Priyadarshini Raje Scindia, Patricia Mukhim, Dominic Sangma, Pradip Kurbah, and Pulitzer Prize winner Suparna Sharma, among others.
Key sessions include The Elephant and the Tragopan, where Naseeruddin Shah will read from Vikram Seth’s Beastly Tales from Here and There, Shillong On A Plate, Once Upon a Time At A Literature Festival, and many others across both the days.
Artists under the Chief Minister’s Meghalaya Grassroots Music Program (CM-MGMP) will also perform during the event. Launched in 2021 by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma alongside former Japanese Ambassador Satoshi Suzuki, the Shillong Literary Festival has emerged as one of the Northeast’s major literary and cultural platforms, drawing writers, scholars, filmmakers, and thinkers from India and abroad.
Notably, the New Delhi Prelude is aimed at expanding the festival’s national outreach while strengthening Meghalaya’s position as a growing hub for culture-led tourism, arts, and creative industries.
