Koshala Literature Festival

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Last edited February 7, 2026

The Koshala Literature Festival is an annual literary event held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The event is organised by the Perspective Cultural Society since 2022, and features sessions on literature, music, visual arts, regional history and contemporary social issues. So far, the festival has hosted authors, thinkers, historians, poets, artists and commentators.

History & Timeline[edit | edit source]

Edition 1

Venue – Sangeet Natak Akademi

The first edition of the festival[1] was a three-day-long event, held at the Sangeet Natak Akademi. The event kicked-off on the 4th of November 2024 and concluded on 6 November 2024.

Edition 2

Venue - La Martinière College

The second edition of the event was held in 2024, after a gap one year, at the La Martinière College[2][3] in Lucknow. It was again a three-day-long event, spanning from then 9 February to the 11th February 2024.[4]

Edition 3

Venue - Sangeet Natak Akademi

In its third edition, the event returned to its original venue, the Sangeet Natak Akademi.[5][6] The event was held between 22 November 2024 and 24 November 2024. The third edition was themed “Sanskriti: India’s Cultural Heritage”.[7]

Edition 4

Venue - UP Darshan Park[8]

The fourth edition of the event was held at the UP Darshan Park. It was a four-day-long event. Spanning from 27th November to 30th November 2025[8], the fourth edition was themed “Celebrating Diversity.”

Featured guests[edit | edit source]

Season 1[edit | edit source]

Devdutt Pattanaik,[9] Ashwin Sanghi, Anand Neelakantan, Manish Tewari, Tigmanshu Dhulia,[10][11] Muzaffar Ali, Shobhaa De, Vidya Shah, Pushpesh Pant, Malini Awasthi, Vikram Sampath, Saeed Naqvi, Sagarika Ghosh, Yatindra Mishra, etc.

Season 2[edit | edit source]

Sathya Saran, Gurcharan Das,[10] John Zubrzycki, Ali Mahmudabad,[12] Sharad Bindal, Himanshu Bajpai, Saurabh Dwivedi,[12] Pushpesh Pant,[13] Tasleema Nasreen, Pankaj Bhadouria, Azhar Iqbal, Ustad Ghulam Siraj Niazi,[14] etc.

Season 3[edit | edit source]

Ira Mukhoty,[15] Eric Chopra, TCA Raghavan, Nilotpal Mrinal, Ila Arun,[16] Saurabh Kirpal, Malavika Rajkotia, Shenaz Treasury,[16] Saurav Jha, Anubhav Sinha, Harshita Gupta, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Vikas Swarup,[16] Devapriya Roy, Prayaag Akbar, Shubhra Gupta, Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, Duvvuri Subba Rao, Purushottam Agarwal,[16] Radha Kumar, etc.

Season 4[edit | edit source]

Rajit Kapur, Jyotsna Mohan, Vaibhav Vishal, Anil Rastogi, Ghazala Wahab, Meera Ali, Chugge Khan, Akshat Gupta, Sharad Bindal, Wasim Barelvi, Reena Puri, etc.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Kaushik, Shrimansi (2024-01-02). "Enchanting evening at Chowmahalla". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
  2. ↑ Ghosh, Aakash (12 February 2024). "Mughal-e-Azam's Etawah connection". Hindustan Times.
  3. ↑ Deb, Sreya (12 February 2024). "Koshala Literature Festival: Duo authors chapter of cultural rejuvenation in Lucknow's journey". Hindustan Times.
  4. ↑ "Koshala Literature Festival to return with cultural extravaganza". Hindustan Times. 7 February 2024.
  5. ↑ "Patrons dress up like 'literary giants', present iconic work as they would have". The Times of India. 2024-11-23. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-07-30.
  6. ↑ "'Pyaasa' made Sahir a poster boy of lyricism'". The Times of India. 2024-11-23. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-07-30.
  7. ↑ "Koshala lit fest to blend in music, art and culture". The Times of India. 2024-11-20. ISSN 0971-8257.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Koshala Literature Festival 2025 Returns to Lucknow: Four Days of Words, Music, Culture & the Citys New UNESCO Honour". The Tribune. Retrieved 2025-12-18.
  9. ↑ "Lit Fest: Devdutt Pattanaik deciphers Hindu mythology". The Times of India. 2022-11-07. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-07-30.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Block this weekend for edition 2 of Koshala Litfest". The Times of India. 2024-02-07. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-07-30.
  11. ↑ "Sitapur's Wajahat Mirza work inspired Hindi film writing, including Salim-Javed screenwriters". The Times of India. 2022-11-05. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-07-30.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Koshala Literature Festival to return with cultural extravaganza". Hindustan Times. 2024-02-06. Archived from the original on 2024-02-13. Retrieved 2025-07-30.
  13. ↑ "Soul-stirring stories found in abundance in Lucknow lanes". The Times of India. 2024-02-12. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2025-07-30.
  14. ↑ Rizvi, S Farah. "From raga, taan to poetry and ghazals". Retrieved 2025-07-30 – via PressReader.
  15. ↑ Ghosh, Aakash (22 November 2024). "Koshala literature fest in Lko: 'Women's contribution in history limited to few chapters'". Hindustan Times.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 S Farah, Rizvi (21 November 2024). "Vikas Swarup, Anubhav Sinha and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt to feature at Koshala Lit Fest in Lucknow". Hindustan Times.
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