Guest Nation Germany - Kerala Literature Festival 2026

The Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) is considered as Asia`s largest literature festival. Nestled along the shores of the Arabian Sea in Kozhikode, KLF caters to all ages and interests, fostering connections between readers and writers for inspiration, entertainment, and discussion.

Since 2017, the Goethe-Institute / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore has supported the participation of German writers and artists at the KLF. But this year the scale is larger owing to Germany being the Guest Nation at KLF.

As part of this historic milestone, we have a wide range of programmes, panels and workshops set up, in close collaboration with our colleagues at the German Consulate Bangalore, Goethe-Zentrum Trivandrum and of course, the core team at KLF. As part of the celebration, we have a dedicated space – The German Pavilion - designed by the Purple Ink Studio, a Bangalore-based award-winning architecture firm. The Pavilion is a physical manifestation of the historical and cultural links that Germany and Kerala share.

The festival takes place on the Kozhikode beach front from 22 to 25 January and runs from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. The German Pavilion will be open to the public from 1:00 pm on 22 January.

The invited writers, festival directors, publishers, curators will engage in a number of panels with their counterparts from India, South Asia, and beyond.

Our guests from Germany include:
Alex Jakubowski, Anke Kuhl, Annette Michael (Orlanda Verlag), Christopher Kloeble, Claudia Kaiser (Frankfurter Buchmesse), David Wagner (Vagamon Writers Residency), Hadija Haruna-Oelker, Hildegard Kronawitter (Weiße Rose Stiftung), Inga Ramcke, Ingo Schulze, Lavinia Frey (Literatur festival Berlin), Max Czollek, Mithu Sanyal, Necati Öziri (online), Nora Stampe (Biologist), Peter Pannke, Shida Bazyar, Sophie Stein (bangaloREsident@Sangam House).

Heritage walks are scheduled every day from 6:00 am to 8:00 am and again from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

The exhibition, It’s not all so dark: Tracing the Livelihood Histories of Malabar, curated by Ishita Shah of Curating for Culture, is open from 15 to 25 January 2026, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. This exhibition brings together stories from a fractured, but persistent foundation, with objects that seem outdated, but are very much alive, and a situation of unresolved conflict, which desperately needs intervention.

The pavilion programming begins in the morning of 23 January. The day opens at 9:00 am with In My Time of Dying, an Indo-German theatre production and concludes with a concert by the multi-award winning experimental pop auteur Perera Elsewhere at 8:00 pm.

We have several engaging programs lined up for you throughout the festival. These include the German-Indian co-production Im Tod - In My Time of Dying by Leon Pfannenmüller (Germany) and Sankar Venkateswaran (India), a Berlin Kitchen curated by food stylist Sanskriti Bist, the Feminist Library by Sandbox Collective, a printmaking studio by Atelier Prati, a Vinyl Pop Up Store and Listening Sessions with On The Jungle Floor, and a range of workshops and performances. Philipp Geist will be illuminating the historic lighthouse at the Kozhikode beach front with his light installations. There will also be music performances by Habibi Funk and Perera Elsewhere in the evenings.

Please find the festival schedule for the German Pavilion here, which is subject to changes.