Festival committee announces 5–7 February 2027 edition, new literary programmes, and a global ecosystem now spanning seven international festivals

GAMPAHA, SRI LANKA — March 2026

The Asian Literary Festival Committee has announced that the 2027 Sri Lanka edition will be held from 5 to 7 February 2027, under the theme Threads of Tomorrow. The announcement marks a significant milestone for the festival, which will return to Sri Lanka as a global literary ecosystem with seven international editions to its name — making it the only literary festival in Sri Lanka with such an extensive international presence.

Since its founding, ALF has taken literature to cities across four continents — from Brussels to Bhubaneswar, Nairobi to Montreal — building an ecosystem rooted in the conviction that literature is not a luxury. The 2027 Gampaha edition will be the seventh chapter in that journey, and organisers say it will carry forward everything the festival has learned from each of those editions.

The full lineup of authors and session details will be announced towards the end of 2026. However, the festival has confirmed that the 2027 edition will introduce three new programmes besides its existing program lineup: a Literary Incubator, a Young Writers Programme, and a Writing Residency — each designed to support writers at different stages of their careers and to deepen ALF’s investment in the literary communities it serves.

“With all the difficulties — Ditwa, and then the West Asia crisis — we finally did our first edition, and it tested our agility and resilience. The 2027 edition will be an amalgamation of everything we have learned from all the festivals we have done around the world — from Brussels to Bhubaneswar, Nairobi to Montreal. Sri Lanka will certainly benefit from this extensive ecosystem we have created.”

— Dr. Nadeera Nilupamali, CEO, The Asian Literary Festival

Dr. Nilupamali’s words reflect the weight of what it took to deliver the 2026 Gampaha edition. The festival navigated disruptions caused by the Ditwa crisis and the ongoing instability in West Asia, which directly affected travel plans for several international authors. That the festival went ahead — and did so to considerable acclaim — is a point of quiet pride for the organising team.

The theme Threads of Tomorrow speaks to where ALF is headed. After six editions spanning multiple continents, the festival arrives at its 2027 Sri Lanka edition not as a beginning but as a convergence — of voices, of experiences, of the questions that literature keeps asking about the world. The theme invites writers and readers to think about what connects us across cultures, borders, and generations, and about the stories that will carry us forward.

The three new programmes announced alongside the 2027 edition represent a deliberate shift from festival as event to festival as infrastructure. The Literary Incubator will support early-stage literary projects; the Young Writers Programme will open doors for emerging voices in Sri Lanka and the wider region; and the Writing Residency will give writers the time and space to do the work that festivals alone cannot provide.

Together, these programmes build on ALF’s founding principle — that access to literature, and to the world of writing, should not be determined by geography, language, or economic circumstance. In bringing them to Sri Lanka alongside its seventh international edition, ALF signals that its investment in this island is not seasonal. It is structural.

“The Gampaha edition has just concluded, and I am already deep into the Nairobi programme. By the time we return for the 2027 Gampaha edition, I will have been shaped by four more festivals in different parts of the world. That accumulated knowledge — of what works, what moves people, what literature can do in different communities — is what I will bring back to my country.”

— Pathum Punchihewa, Curator, The Asian Literary Festival

Hasintha Thilakarathne