The Himalayan Literature Festival & Writers' Workshop 2026 will be held at Malla Hotel in Kathmandu from May 29 to June 5. 

The event will bring together celebrated poets, novelists, memoirists, translators, journalists, filmmakers, and scholars from Nepal and across the global literary community.

The theme for this year’s week-long festival will be of healing, consciousness, creativity, memory, and cultural dialogue in a rapidly changing world.

This year’s edition features a strong lineup of international writers including Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Tracy K. Smith and Paul Muldoon, bestselling novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz, poet and translator Tony Barnstone, World renowned Himalayan Poet Yuyutsu Sharma, Irish literary editor Martin Doyle, Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang, and many distinguished literary voices from Nepal, India, Ireland, Austria, Poland, the United States, and beyond. 

A major focus of the festival remains the nurturing of emerging voices through youth poetry platforms, mentorship programs, workshops, and international collaborations. Nepali poets and writers writing in both Nepali and English will be prominently featured alongside global literary guests, reaffirming Nepal’s growing presence in the international literary landscape. 

The festival will also include screenings of Irish, Austrian, Polish, and poetry films, as well as visits to important cultural and heritage sites including Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square, Boudhanath, Budhanilkantha, and Nagarkot, offering participants a deeper engagement with Nepal’s artistic, spiritual, and cultural heritage.