Program Template – Sakal Lit Fest Pune 2026

कार्यक्रम / PROGRAMME

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DIFFERENT IDEAS SHARE A STAGE?

Poetry meets protest. 
Tradition meets technology.
Caste meets reform.
Marathi meets the world.
AI meets the human voice.
And sometimes, an opinion meets its opposite.

Across 110+ sessions, literature leaves its usual corners and enters conversations about the world we live in.

12^th November, 2026 | Thursday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)

10:30 – 11:50

Opening: Saraswati Vandana Inauguration Ceremony

12:00 – 12:50

Keynote

Banu Mushtaq

01:00 – 01:50

Coming Soon

01:00 – 01:50

A World at War: Where Does India Stand?

Stanly Johny in conversation with Sushrut Kulkarni

01:00 – 01:50

संतसाहित्य आणि लोकसाहित्य यांतील विद्रोह

डॉ.अरुणा ढेरे

मराठी

02:00 – 02:50

Coming Soon

02:00 – 02:50

Can One Page a Day Change Your Life?

Pamela Puja Kirpalani in conversation with Rita Date

02:00 – 02:50

लोकभाषा, ज्ञानभाषा ते मनोरंजनाची भाषा

डॉ. गो. बं. देगलूरकर, मुकुंद कुळे, अभय टिळक, संवादक : मिलिंद जोशी

मराठी

02:00 – 02:50

Prakash Pawar

मराठी

03:00 – 03:50

How a Story Survives

Nilesh Oak, Deepali Patwadkar, Gauri Moghe in conversation with Mitra Desai

03:00 – 03:50

Maratha History Panel

Medha Bhaskaran Deshmukh in conversation with Vinita Deshmukh

03:00 – 03:50

Abhay Bang

03:00 – 03:50

विषय : जेन झी च्या काळात संतसाहित्याची गरज (आहे का?)

अभय टिळक, रूपाली शिंदे, मुकुंद दातार, संवादक : सचिन पवार

मराठी

04:00 – 06:30

Living Songs of a Scattered People: Shah, Sachal and Sami

Saaz Agarwaal and Girish Sadhwani

04:00 – 04:50

D.D. Kosambi: One Life, Many Worlds

Ramakrishna Ramaswamy in conversation with Dr. Pavan Kumar

05:00 – 05:50

Don't Read This After Dark: Why India Can't Stop Reading Horror

K. Hari Kumar, Neil D’Silva, Jay Alani Moderated by Mayur Didolkar

06:00 – 06:50

Nietzsche Read the Manusmriti. Dr. Ambedkar Burned It

S Anand in conversation with Ankit Kawade (online) and Dr. Deepti Gangawane

04:00 – 04:50

Marathi Rap

Sujay Jadhav

मराठी

05:00 – 06:30

हे मनुष्या

संदीप वासलेकर, मकरंद देशपांडे, अरुण शेवते

मराठी

04:00 – 04:50

Maitra Jivanche

Salil Kulkarni, Mangeshkar

मराठी

Ticketed

12^th November, 2026 | Thursday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

10:30 – 11:50

Opening: Saraswati Vandana Inauguration Ceremony

12:00 – 12:50

Keynote

Banu Mushtaq

01:00 – 01:50

Coming Soon

01:00 – 01:50

A World at War: Where Does India Stand?

Stanly Johny in conversation with Sushrut Kulkarni

02:00 – 02:50

Coming Soon

02:00 – 02:50

Can One Page a Day Change Your Life?

Pamela Puja Kirpalani in conversation with Rita Date

03:00 – 03:50

How a Story Survives

Nilesh Oak, Deepali Patwadkar, Gauri Moghe in conversation with Mitra Desai

03:00 – 03:50

Maratha History Panel

Medha Bhaskaran Deshmukh in conversation with Vinita Deshmukh

04:00 – 06:30

Living Songs of a Scattered People: Shah, Sachal and Sami

Saaz Agarwaal and Girish Sadhwani

04:00 – 04:50

D.D. Kosambi: One Life, Many Worlds

Ramakrishna Ramaswamy in conversation with Dr. Pavan Kumar

05:00 – 05:50

Don't Read This After Dark: Why India Can't Stop Reading Horror

K. Hari Kumar, Neil D’Silva, Jay Alani Moderated by Mayur Didolkar

06:00 – 06:50

Nietzsche Read the Manusmriti. Dr. Ambedkar Burned It

S Anand in conversation with Ankit Kawade (online) and Dr. Deepti Gangawane

07:00 – 10:00

Maitra Jivanche

Salil Kulkarni, Mangeshkar

मराठी

Ticketed

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)

01:00 – 01:50

संतसाहित्य आणि लोकसाहित्य यांतील विद्रोह

डॉ.अरुणा ढेरे

मराठी

02:00 – 02:50

लोकभाषा, ज्ञानभाषा ते मनोरंजनाची भाषा

डॉ. गो. बं. देगलूरकर, मुकुंद कुळे, अभय टिळक, संवादक : मिलिंद जोशी

मराठी

02:00 – 02:50

Prakash Pawar

मराठी

03:00 – 03:50

Abhay Bang

03:00 – 03:50

विषय : जेन झी च्या काळात संतसाहित्याची गरज (आहे का?)

अभय टिळक, रूपाली शिंदे, मुकुंद दातार, संवादक : सचिन पवार

मराठी

04:00 – 04:50

Marathi Rap

Sujay Jadhav

मराठी

05:00 – 06:30

हे मनुष्या

संदीप वासलेकर, मकरंद देशपांडे, अरुण शेवते

मराठी

13^th November, 2026 | Friday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)

10:00 – 10:50

The Girls Nobody Counted

Safeena Husain

10:00 – 10:50

Can Art Start a Revolution?

Siddhesh Gautam, Rachita Taneja
Moderated by: Anurag Minus Verma

11:00 – 11:50

The Great Indian Brain Rot: Is the Scroll Killing the Sentence?

Anurag Minus Verma, Ravikant Kisana

11:00 – 11:50

China and Relations with South East Asia

Vijay Gokhale in conversation with Amish Raj Mulmi

11:00 – 11:50

Bharud / Kirtan

Bhavarth Dekhene

मराठी

11:00 – 11:50

Aishwarya Revadkar, Shilpa Kamble

12:00 – 12:50

Is Indian Feminism Too Polite?

Meena Kandasamy, Sameena Dalwai, Safeena Husain, Jasreen Mayal Khanna
Mod: Shona Urvashi

12:00 – 12:50

Historical Fiction Panel

Mitra Desai, Natasha Sharma, Nita J Klkarni

12:00 – 12:50

Keynote

Balaji Sutar

मराठी

12:00 – 12:50

डॉ. जयंत नारळीकरांनंतर विज्ञान कथेचा प्रवास

डॉ. बाळ फोंडके , डॉ. संजय ढोले, सुबोध जावडेकर

मराठी

01:00 – 01:50

Coming Soon

01:00 – 01:50

Followers aren't Readers or are they?

Harnidh Kaur in conversation with Jasreen Mayal Khanna

01:00 – 01:50

इतिहासगौरवाच्या नादात भविष्यविन्मुखता?

डॉ. सरोजा भाटे, डॉ. भाग्यालता पाटसकर, निर्मला कुलकर्णी, अनघा जोशी
मॉडरेटर : प्रणव गोखले

मराठी

01:00 – 01:50

Coming Soon

02:00 – 02:50

Phule at 200: How Far Have We Come?

Siddhesh Gautam, Ravikant Kisana, Sameena Dalwai
Moderated by: Parth MN

02:00 – 02:50

(Zines) Little Magazines Are Dead. Long Live Little Magazines.

Tanuj Solanki, Natasha Joshi, Vivek Shanbhag

02:00 – 02:50

समकालीन साहित्यातून व्यक्त होणारे राजकीय भान (व्याख्यान)

नीरजा

मराठी

02:00 – 02:50

कृत्रिम बुद्धिमत्ता विधायक की विनाशक

अतुल कहाते, आनंद ज. कुलकर्णी, योगेश कुलकर्णी, अच्युत गोडबोले

मराठी

03:00 – 03:50

Does Writing Still Matter? (Answer Honestly)

Tanuj Solanki, Meena Kandasamy
Moderated by: Shailesh Bharatwasi

03:00 – 03:50

Env Policy and Society

Jacob Koshy, Arup Kumar Dutta, Ajit Ranade, Gurudas Nulkar Moderated by Prachi Shevgaonkar

03:00 – 03:50

Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada

Shahu Patole in conversation with Bhushan Korgaonkar

मराठी

03:00 – 03:50

Coming Soon

04:00 – 06:50

Vedāsī viṭāḷa/ वेदासी विटाळ/ Vedas are Tainted

S. Anand will sing Chokhamela, Kabir and Buddha in Dhrupad, with Tushar Shantaram Gharat on the Pakhawaj

04:00 – 04:50

Who Needs the Big Five?

Shailesh Bharatwasi, Vasudhendra, Vivek Shanbhag, in conversation with Ashutosh Ramgir

05:00 – 05:50

Not Your Coming-Out Story

Saikat Majumdar, Vasudhendra, Rahul Singh

06:00 – 06:50

Biography writing panel

Narayani Basu in conversation with Samarth

04:30 – 06:30

Bhayankarachya Darvajyat

Mayur Shitole

मराठी

04:00 – 04:50

कवी संमेलन

05:00 – 06:30

Coming Soon

07:00 – 10:00

IME — "अस्वस्थ अक्षरांचा वारसा"

मराठी

Ticketed

14^th November, 2026 | Saturday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)

10:00 – 10:50

India's Deep State, Out Loud

Josy Joseph

10:00 – 10:50

Leaves No Longer Green

Arup Kumar Dutta

10:00 – 10:50

Kaavad Katha Workshop

Akshay Gandhi

मराठी

11:00 – 11:50

Keynote

Akshat Gupta

11:00 – 11:50

Politically Queer, Queerly Political

R. Raj Rao, Vivek Dewan, Anish Gawande
Moderated by Deepa D.

11:00 – 11:50

द.मा. मिरासदार, शंकर पाटील आणि व्यंकटेश माडगूळकर यांच्या कथांचे अभिवाचन

प्रसाद मिरासदार, माधव गोखले आणि ज्ञानदा नाईक

मराठी

11:00 – 11:50

गप्पा गप्पी

राजीव तांबे

मराठी

12:00 – 12:50

The Constitution Is Not a Museum Piece

Justice S. Muralidhar

12:00 – 12:50

Where's Marathi's Booker?

Nadeem Khan, Vikrant Pande, Uma Shirodkar
Mod: Ashutosh Ramgir

12:00 – 12:50

Yuva Sahityik युवा साहित्य पुरस्कार प्राप्त लेखक काय लिहितात आणि वाचतात?

Devidas Saudagar, Navnath Gore, Pradeep Kokre, Pavan Nalat

मराठी

12:00 – 12:50

Coming Soon

01:00 – 01:50

Keynote

Preeti Sheenoy

01:00 – 01:50

What Pune Knows About Kashmir That Delhi Doesn't

Mehdi Khwaja, Sanjay Nahar (Sarhad)
Moderated by: Vandana Shukla

01:00 – 01:50

बेस्टसेलर कोण ठरवतं: वाचक, लेखक, प्रकाशक की अल्गोरिदम?

नीतिन थोरात, शरद तांदळे
MOD: चेतन कोळी

मराठी

01:00 – 01:50

Storytelling performance

Shreedhar Kulkarni

02:00 – 02:50

Draupadi Had Opinions

Koral Dasgupta, Arshia Sattar, Kalyani Sardesai

02:00 – 02:50

Mental Health in India

Amrita Tripathi, Natasha Joshi

02:00 – 02:50

Alok with Chandramohan

02:00 – 02:50

Nanuche Nana

03:00 – 03:50

Where Does Free Speech End? Three Views of One Case

Justice S. Muralidhar, Raju Ramachandran (remote), Neha Dixit
Moderated by: Ravikant Kisana

04:00 – 04:50

Who Wrote This? A Live Test

Jibu Elias, Saikat Majumdar

03:00 – 03:50

Translation Panel

Mehdi Khwaja, Uma Shirodkar, Nadeem Khan
Moderated by: Dr. Ajay Joshi

04:00 – 04:50

Too Dangerous for the Newspaper

Josy Joseph, Neha Dixit, Parth MN, Vandana Shukla
Mod: Amrita Tripathi

03:00 – 03:50

Kaavad Katha Workshop

Akshay Gandhi

मराठी

04:00 – 04:50

संतपीठ : कीर्तन Fusion

मराठी

03:00 – 05:00

Kavita Carnival

05:00 – 06:50

Keynote

Ramchandra Guha

06:00 – 06:50

Keynote

Ami Gantra

05:00 – 05:50

राजन गवस यांच्याशी संवाद

आदिनाथ चव्हाण (संवादक)

मराठी

06:00 – 06:50

Prafulla Wankhede

मराठी

05:00 – 04:50

Christopher C. Doyle presentation on his books

05:00 – 05:50

Cartoon workshop with Alok

07:00 – 10:00

Nayab Midha

Ticketed

15^th November, 2026 | Sunday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)

10:00 – 10:50

There Is No One Ramayana

Arshia Sattar

11:00 – 11:50

Cartoons and Humour

Alok, Sandeep, Manjul in conversation with Nilesh Khare

10:00 – 10:50

Coming Soon

11:00 – 11:50

The Cricketers Nobody Filmed

Aayush Puthran

11:00 – 11:50

आस्था आणि गावरीची भाजी / लेखिकेला 'बंडखोर' कोण ठरवतं?

Meghna Pethe
MOD: Manasvini Prabhune Nayak

10:00 – 11:50

Puppetery Making workhop by Sangeeta Deshpande + Science toys (Arvind Gupta) by Vidula Mhaiskar

12:00 – 12:50

Ramchandra Guha and Sadanand More in conversation with Hemant Rajopadhyay

12:00 – 12:50

Who Owns Bombay's Plate?

Meher Mirza

12:00 – 12:50

प्रभावी वक्तृत्व हरवले आहे का? - व्याख्यान

मिलिंद जोशी

मराठी

12:00 – 12:50

COOL PHILOSPHERS

Mrunalini Vanarase (Age 8 tp 15 Years)

01:00 – 01:50

Keynote

Hamid Dabholkar

01:00 – 01:50

The New Divide: Who Gets Left Behind by AI?

Jibu Elias

01:00 – 01:50

ऊन जरा जास्त आहे

Kishor kadam with Arvind Jagtap

मराठी

01:00 – 01:50

Chitrakathi

Chetan Gangawane

02:00 – 02:50

Raj Thackeray in conversation with Nilesh Khare

02:00 – 02:50

Coming Soon

02:00 – 02:50

Music Disruption : अलगोरीदमच्या काळात गाणं कोण तयार करतं ?

Rahul Ranade

मराठी

02:00 – 02:50

Coming Soon

03:00 – 03:50

Dhruv-Tara

Amish Tripathi

03:00 – 03:50

The Wars and Borders India Forgets

Probal Dasgupta, Amish Raj Mulmi

03:00 – 03:50

ए बिस्मिल्ला

03:00 – 03:50

Coming Soon

04:00 – 05:50

Kaavad Katha Performance

Akshya Gandhi

04:00 – 04:50

Why Are Strangers Reading Together? The Book Club Boom

Sanika Kelkar, Stuti Changle
Moderated by: Natasha Sharma

06:00 – 06:50

The Curse of the Kurus Christopher Doyle

04:30 – 06:30

स्त्री साहित्य, ओव्या Performance+ Commentary

तेजश्री इंगवले

मराठी

04:00 – 04:50

Kids drawing activities

Abha Bhagvat (TBC)

05:00 – 05:50

Coming Soon

07:00 – 10:00

Chanakya

Ticketed

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DIFFERENT IDEAS SHARE A STAGE?

12th November, 2026 | Thursday

Hall 1 (Main)Amphi

Hall 2(Firodiya)

Hall 3 (Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4 (Saarthi Multi)

Opening: Saraswati Vandana Inauguration Ceremony

Keynote

Coming Soon

A World at War: Where Does India Stand?

संतसाहित्य आणि लोकसाहित्य यांतील विद्रोह

Coming Soon

Can One Page a Day Change Your Life?

लोकभाषा, ज्ञानभाषा ते मनोरंजनाची भाषा

Prakash Pawar

How a Story Survives

Maratha History Panel

Abhay Bang

विषय : जेन झी च्या काळात संतसाहित्याची गरज (आहे का?)

Living Songs of a Scattered People: Shah, Sachal and Sami

D.D. Kosambi: One Life, Many Worlds

Don't Read This After Dark: Why India Can't Stop Reading Horror

Nietzsche Read the Manusmriti. Dr. Ambedkar Burned It

Marathi Rap

हे मनुष्या

Maitra Jivanche

12th November, 2026 | Thursday

Hall 1 (Main)Amphi

Hall 2(Firodiya)

Opening: Saraswati Vandana Inauguration Ceremony

Keynote

Coming Soon

A World at War: Where Does India Stand?

Coming Soon

Can One Page a Day Change Your Life?

How a Story Survives

Maratha History Panel

Living Songs of a Scattered People: Shah, Sachal and Sami

D.D. Kosambi: One Life, Many Worlds

Don't Read This After Dark: Why India Can't Stop Reading Horror

Nietzsche Read the Manusmriti. Dr. Ambedkar Burned It

Maitra Jivanche

Hall 3 (Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4 (Saarthi Multi)

संतसाहित्य आणि लोकसाहित्य यांतील विद्रोह

लोकभाषा, ज्ञानभाषा ते मनोरंजनाची भाषा

Prakash Pawar

Abhay Bang

विषय : जेन झी च्या काळात संतसाहित्याची गरज (आहे का?)

Marathi Rap

हे मनुष्या

13th November, 2026 | Friday

Hall 1 (Main)Amphi

Hall 2(Firodiya)

Hall 3 (Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4 (Saarthi Multi)

The Girls Nobody Counted

Can Art Start a Revolution?

The Great Indian Brain Rot: Is the Scroll Killing the Sentence?

China and Relations with South East Asia

Bharud / Kirtan

Aishwarya Revadkar, Shilpa Kamble

Is Indian Feminism Too Polite?

Historical Fiction Panel

Keynote

डॉ. जयंत नारळीकरांनंतर विज्ञान कथेचा प्रवास

Coming Soon

Followers aren't Readers or are they?

इतिहासगौरवाच्या नादात भविष्यविन्मुखता?

Coming Soon

Phule at 200: How Far Have We Come?

(Zines) Little Magazines Are Dead. Long Live Little Magazines.

समकालीन साहित्यातून व्यक्त होणारे राजकीय भान (व्याख्यान)

कृत्रिम बुद्धिमत्ता विधायक की विनाशक

Does Writing Still Matter? (Answer Honestly)

Env Policy and Society

Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada

Coming Soon

Vedāsī viṭāḷa/ वेदासी विटाळ/ Vedas are Tainted

Who Needs the Big Five?

12^th November, 2026 | Thursday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)

12^th November, 2026 | Thursday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)

13^th November, 2026 | Friday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)

14^th November, 2026 | Saturday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)

15^th November, 2026 | Sunday

Hall 1 (Main)
Amphi

Hall 2
(Firodiya)

Hall 3
(Saarthi Audi)

Hall 4
(Saarthi Multi)