Writers from around the world to assemble in Kathmandu for HLF-WWK 2026
KATHMANDU: The Himalayan Literature Festival and Writers Workshop (HLF-WWK) 2026 will take place in Kathmandu from May 29 to June 5. The week-long event is expected to bring together more than 75 writers, poets, scholars, filmmakers and artists from around the world.
The festival will be hosted at The Malla Hotel and is dedicated to Nepali short story writer Guru Prasad Mainali. This year’s theme is 'Ecstasy, Healing, and Creative Writing in the New World Order'.
Organisers said a major highlight will be the launch of Nepal’s first-ever Poetry Film Festival, which will explore new intersections between poetry and visual storytelling. Selected workshops will be held at culturally and spiritually significant sites across the Kathmandu Valley in addition to sessions at The Malla Hotel.
Participants are expected from Nepal, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Austria, Portugal, Poland, Ukraine, France, Denmark, Russia and the Philippines. The programme will include workshops, masterclasses, poetry readings, panel discussions, performances, film screenings and cross-cultural exchanges.
The festival’s international roster features Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Tracy K. Smith and Paul Muldoon, novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz, poet Tina Chang and literary editor Martin Doyle, alongside many noted Nepali and international writers.
HLF-WWK 2026 is led by Himalayan poet Yuyutsu RD Sharma and festival director Shreejana Bhandari. The event is supported by several international literary and cultural institutions, including New York Writers Workshop, Asian American Writers' Workshop, Australia Asia Pacific Writers and Translators, the Polish Institute New Delhi and the Austrian Cultural Forum.
Registration is open for participants from Nepal, the SAARC region and other countries.
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