Jaipur Literature Festival London (JLF London) 2026 – Star writer line-up to dazzle at British Library
Modelled on its illustrious progenitor – the Jaipur Literature Festival rolls into the capital for its 13th edition offering the same heady mix of literary ideas, revelations and insights…
POLITICS, poetics, crime and Empire, are just four of the many topics that will take centre stage at this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival at the British Library in London, this coming weekend, June 5-7.
One of the BBC’s best-known international journalists makes her JLF London debut – Lyse Doucet is the BBC’s chief international correspondent and has been reporting recently from Iran and the Middle East on the latest conflicts there; Nikita Gill whom www.asianculturevulture.com spoke to (see links below) will be talking about her forthcoming work ‘Styx’ which is set to be published in September and continues her Greek Goddess Trilogy which began with ‘Hekate’ and will be completed the future publication of ‘Nyx’.
She first appears in the festival alongside well-known Indian broadcaster and anchor Mallika Kapur and on the Sunday, expect some literary fireworks, when she lines up alongside Booker-shortlisted poet and novelist Jeet Thayil (‘Narcopolis’ 2012; and ‘The Elshwhereans’ 2025) and writer Tishani Doshi (‘A god at the door’) as the three discuss the Poetic Imagination.
William Dalrymple, one of co-founders of the festival and Anita Anand present a live edition of their hugely successful series, ‘The Empire Podcast’ at the festival on Sunday as the closing event – see link below about tickets.
Among two of the country’s most successful crime authors take to the stage together – Vaseem Khan and Abhir Mukerjee have sold thousands of books and are best known for their Malabar House series and a new book, ‘The Pinnacle’, which sets an American India-disliking heartthrob in Mumbai, at the time of a Bollywood star murder and all the machinations that come from a city riddled with contradictions, respectively. Journalist Shrabani Basu moderates Desi Noir on Sunday.
Nandini Das, Tahmima Anam, Sheena Kalayil are some of the other prominent South Asian authors to be appearing at the festival this weekend.
Australian Afghan Saad Mohseni who helped to set up one of the first media enterprises in Afghanistan and remains chairman of the Moby Group, which also has interests across Central Asia and the Middle East, features on Saturday alongside Doucet and celebrated foreign correspondent and Malala biographer Christina Lamb. Academic and broadcaster Rashmee Roshan Lall moderates Radio Free Afghanistan on Saturday afternoon.
Other prominent names featuring this weekend include Marcus du Sautoy, Cambridge mathematician and playwright; Alexander McCall Smith, crime fiction icon who penned ‘The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency’; Sarah Churchwell, cultural historian and author; Marina Warner, well-known critic and Jeremy Silver, a tech entrepreneur and AI commentator.
There is an inaugural address and opening session on Friday evening (June 5) – Dame Carol Black, the government’s current advisor on drugs and a former President of the Royal College of Physicians welcomes attendees alongside Gokhale, Dalrymple, and Sanjoy Roy, of Teamwork Arts, which produces JLFs around the world.
An opening session follows this – The Queen of Crime: The Life and Legacy of Agatha Christie, sees Lucy Foley, James Prichard and Lucy Rowland discuss the iconic writer’s legacy and the way she reshaped modern crime fiction. Basu moderates again.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZImJk5OTer/
Top picture: William Dalrymple, Anita Anand and Bea Rowlett – The Empire Podcast session at JLF London 2026
Listing
Jaipur Literature Festival at the British Library, Friday, June 5-7, at the British Library, 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB
Explore Programme – https://jlflitfest.org/london/schedule
Closing Event
Separate booking – The Empire Podcast: How Empires Fall, Sunday June 7, 7pm
Vision Hall, Town Hall, Bidborough Street, Kings Cross London WC1H 9AU
https://events.bl.uk/events/empire-live
