NEW YORK, November 11, 2026 — Stories have a remarkable ability to travel across borders, generations, and cultures. They preserve memories, challenge inherited narratives, illuminate forgotten histories, and create bridges between communities separated by geography but connected through shared experiences. These ideas will take center stage when the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) presents its Literary Festival 2026 on November 14–15 at the historic Bohemian National Hall in Manhattan.
Bringing together an impressive assembly of novelists, historians, chefs, scholars, poets, journalists, and cultural commentators, the two-day festival promises to be a significant celebration of Indian literature and the creative contributions of the Indian diaspora. All sessions are free to attend, with advance registration encouraged.
The festival’s programme reflects the extraordinary diversity of contemporary Indian and Indian-American storytelling. Its conversations explore migration, family relationships, historical memory, cultural identity, food, philosophy, and the enduring connections between India and the United States.
Among Saturday’s featured presentations is Mumbai-born chef and food writer Rachel Gurjar, who will discuss her cookbook, East to East: Recipes and Stories from Mumbai to New York, in conversation with Tanya Sichynsky, a food editor at The New York Times. Based in Brooklyn and formerly a food editor at Bon Appétit, Gurjar uses food as a vehicle for exploring the immigrant experience, combining inventive Indian-inspired recipes with personal reflections on leaving home and building a new life abroad.
Another highly anticipated conversation features acclaimed novelist Manil Suri and his memoir, A Room in Bombay. Drawing upon more than 2,700 letters written to his mother over three decades, Suri revisits the family’s experiences in a single room in Bombay. The memoir examines the complicated relationships between parents and children, the meaning of home, migration, memory, and family obligations. Suri will be in conversation with Arun Venugopal, senior reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, whose journalism frequently examines race, identity, and social justice.
Historical memory takes a compelling turn in Four Minutes Past Midnight: A Moment in Eternity, presented by Sanjay Srivatsa. Set against the final hours before a man’s execution at Alipore Jail on August 14, 1947, the historical novel reconstructs an extraordinary wartime journey from Madras to Singapore and Japan. Srivatsa spent more than a decade examining his father’s original letters and documents to recover a largely untold family history. He will discuss the book with Colonel Virendra Tavathia, a former commander of the Rajputana Rifles and co-founder of the Shradhaa Foundation. This session is scheduled concurrently with Suri’s presentation.
The festival also turns toward India’s intellectual and artistic heritage through Advaitavadini Kaul’s presentation of Kapila Jnanagarbha: Knowledge Unfolding Wisdom, a commemorative volume honoring the distinguished scholar Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan. A former Chief Editor and head of the Kala Kosha division at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, Kaul has played an important role in documenting and interpreting India’s artistic and philosophical traditions. She will be joined by Rakesh K. Kaul, IAAC vice chairman and author of The Last Queen of Kashmir and Dawn: The Warrior Princess of Kashmir.
Contemporary fiction and historical narratives receive equal attention through a joint session featuring authors Brinda Charry and Priya Hajela. Charry will present Hocus Pocus, a novel exploring art, ambition, identity, and the world of nineteenth-century Indian magicians who travelled to America. Hajela will discuss For Whose Dear Sake Our Fathers Died, a sweeping multigenerational saga following a Sikh family through nearly a century of conflict, empire, resistance, and political transformation. Its historical landscape encompasses the Anglo-Sikh Wars, the uprising of 1857, the Komagata Maru episode, India’s freedom movement, and Partition. The conversation will be moderated by author Manreet Sodhi Someshwar.
Together, these presentations illustrate an important characteristic of the festival: the willingness to bring personal narratives into conversation with larger historical and cultural experiences. Whether through food, family correspondence, wartime documents, or the imaginative reconstruction of forgotten histories, the featured authors demonstrate how literature can recover stories that might otherwise disappear.
Beyond the Saturday sessions, the festival continues on November 15 with an equally ambitious programme featuring writers and prominent public figures. Among its Sunday highlights are novelist Karan Mahajan, economists Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian, water conservationist Rajendra Singh, and former American Express chairman and CEO Ken Chenault.
For the Indo-American Arts Council, the festival represents more than an opportunity to promote books and authors. It is an expression of its broader mission to introduce American audiences to the richness of Indian arts, literature, and cultural traditions while providing a platform for diaspora voices.
At a time when questions of identity, migration, belonging, and cultural understanding are increasingly important, such gatherings offer an opportunity for meaningful dialogue across generations and national boundaries.
The historic Bohemian National Hall, located at 321 East 73rd Street in Manhattan, will provide the setting for these conversations. With free admission and an extensive programme, the IAAC Literary Festival 2026 invites readers, writers, academics, students, and members of the wider community to discover new books, encounter fresh perspectives, and celebrate the transformative power of storytelling.
Ultimately, the festival’s greatest contribution may lie in reminding audiences that literature is not simply about preserving the past. It is also about understanding the present and imagining a more connected future.
Event details: November 14–15, 2026; Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street, New York City. All sessions are free. Advance registration is encouraged at www.iaac.us.
Sources consulted
The following sources provide the published programme, event details, and additional background:
- Official IAAC Literary Festival 2026 programme: Indo-American Arts Council – Literary Festival 2026
