Kathmandu, Nepal — The Himalayan Literature Festival and Writers Workshop (HLF-WWK) 2026 will take place in Kathmandu from May 29 to June 5, bringing together more than 75 distinguished writers, poets, scholars, translators, filmmakers, and artists from across the world.
Hosted at The Malla Hotel, the festival is dedicated to renowned Nepali short story writer Guru Prasad Mainali and is themed “Ecstasy, Healing, and Creative Writing in the New World Order.”
Participants from Nepal, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Austria, Portugal, Poland, Ukraine, France, Denmark, Russia, and the Philippines are expected to attend the week-long gathering, which will feature workshops, masterclasses, poetry readings, panel discussions, performances, film screenings, and cross-cultural exchanges.
The festival will feature internationally acclaimed literary figures including Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Tracy K. Smith and Paul Muldoon, along with novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz, poet Tina Chang, literary editor Martin Doyle, and many other noted international and Nepali writers.
Other celebrated international writers include Peter Salisbury, Ravi Shankar, Anne Casey, Kathleen Willard, Edith Hakimian, Krestina Prater, Lara Gularte, Manjula Narayan, Mike Jurkovic, Shilpa Dixit Thapaliyal, Penny Kline, Inderjeet Mani, Mary Newell, Rajni Shankar Brown, Felice Willat, Connie Fisher, Carola Mair, Kavita Jindal, Runa Bandyopadhyay, Jami Proctor Xu, Daniela Chacon Ramdass, Sanjula Sharma, Laksmisree Banerjee, Swaati Chadra Shivki, Elaine Joy Degala, and Ketan Jain.
Legendary Nepali poet Shailendra Sakar, along with Hari Adhikary, Narayan Dhakal, Usha Sherchan, Dwarika Shrestha, and scores of other established and emerging Nepali writers, are also expected to participate.
A major highlight of the festival will be the launch of Nepal’s first-ever Poetry Film Festival, exploring new intersections between poetry and visual storytelling.
In addition to sessions at The Malla Hotel, selected workshops will be held at culturally and spiritually significant sites across the Kathmandu Valley.
The festival is led by internationally renowned Himalayan poet Yuyutsu RD Sharma and festival director Shreejana Bhandari.
HLF-WWK 2026 is supported by several international literary and cultural institutions, including New York Writers Workshop, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Australia Asia Pacific Writers and Translators, Polish Institute New Delhi, and Austrian Cultural Forum, among others.
Registration remains open for participants from Nepal, the SAARC region, and around the world.
