Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat unveils vision for ‘Ek Bharat, Anek Bol’ ahead of Delhi edition

The three-day festival will be held from December 18 to 20, 2026, at Travancore Palace, New Delhi, bringing together writers, poets, translators, publishers, performers, diplomats, policymakers, bureaucrats and readers from across the country.

The central idea is India’s extraordinary diversity of languages and the literature, memories and cultural traditions connected with them. While readers are often familiar with writing in one or two languages, important work in many other Indian languages can remain outside their immediate reading world. Ek Bharat, Anek Bol will bring some of those conversations into the same space.

On the occasion, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat extended his best wishes for the success of ‘Ek Bharat, Anek Bol Literary Festival’. He emphasised the importance of India’s many languages and the literary traditions connected with them, and highlighted the role such platforms can play in bringing different languages and cultures into closer conversation.

The Delhi edition builds on Kalinga Literary Festival’s established journey across literature, ideas and culture. From Bhubaneswar to Kathmandu, the festival has brought authors, thinkers, artists and readers together through conversations that have ranged from books and poetry to society, history and contemporary life.

Ek Bharat, Anek Bol takes that experience into a more focused engagement with India’s languages.

The choice of Delhi also gives the festival a distinctive setting. The capital is home to people from almost every part of the country, as well as major universities, publishing houses, cultural institutions and media organisations. Different languages and traditions are part of the city’s everyday life, giving the December gathering a natural context.

For Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Founder and Director, Kalinga Literary Festival, the Delhi edition is a continuation of a journey Kalinga Literary Festival has shaped over the years.

“Over the years, we have seen how strongly people connect through books, stories and ideas. With Ek Bharat, Anek Bol, we want people to discover writers, stories and traditions beyond the languages they already know. India has so much literature that deserves to travel further, and this festival gives those conversations a larger space,” Parida said.

The programme will also look at the role of translation in taking writing from one Indian language to another, as well as the challenges facing languages and dialects whose everyday use is declining. Oral traditions, cultural memory and the relationship younger generations have with their mother tongues are also expected to feature in the discussions.

Alongside the conversations, the festival will include readings, performances and interactions involving established literary figures, students, younger readers and emerging writers.

The Delhi edition will also host the sixth KLF Book Awards 2026, with the winners to be felicitated during the inaugural programme on December 18. The awards recognise works in English and Hindi across fiction, non-fiction, debut writing, poetry and translation.

For Kalinga Literary Festival, Ek Bharat, Anek Bol adds a distinct language-focused chapter to an established literary journey. KLF describes the initiative as one centred on celebrating and strengthening India’s linguistic and cultural heritage.

This December, that conversation comes to Delhi, bringing many of India’s languages and literary traditions into the same room.