Booker Prize winners Kiran Desai, Damon Galgut to attend Shillong Literary Festival in November

Booker Prize-winning novelists Kiran Desai and Damon Galgut will attend the sixth edition of the Shillong Literary Festival, scheduled to be held from November 12 to 14 at Ward’s Lake in Shillong, the Meghalaya government announced on Friday.

Desai won the 2006 Booker Prize for The Inheritance of Loss, while Galgut received the award in 2021 for The Promise. Their participation brings two internationally recognised authors to the three-day festival, which will feature literary discussions and events centred on writing and storytelling.

Desai, who also wrote Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize for her novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. Her writing frequently explores migration, identity, family and social change.

Galgut, a South African novelist and playwright, has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. His work examines themes of family, memory, history and the legacy of apartheid. He published his first novel at the age of 17.

The announcement marks the first major author names revealed for this year's festival, with further participants expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Ahead of the main event, the festival will host workshops on October 26 at the State Convention Centre in Shillong. Literary agent Kanishka Gupta will lead a session on career opportunities in the book industry, including publishing, editing, literary agencies and book publicity, as well as the impact of artificial intelligence.

A creative writing workshop will be conducted by writers Mitra Phukan and Lalnunsanga Ralte on the same day.

The festival's pre-event programme will also include a photography workshop titled Ways of Visual Practice on November 11, featuring Menty Jamir, Indrajit Khambe and Bipin Aspatwar. The session will include practical exercises, portfolio reviews and discussions on visual storytelling.

The festival will also run First Bloom: Discovering New Writing, an initiative inviting emerging writers from the Northeast to submit fiction and narrative non-fiction. Entries close on October 20, with prizes of Rs 50,000 for the winner and Rs 25,000 for the runner-up.

Supported by the Meghalaya government's Department of Tourism, the festival will bring together writers and readers while showcasing the literary traditions of the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo communities alongside national and international writing.