TISS Mumbai’s two-day 'Literature Festival 2026' on October 16 and 17

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai will host the two-day TISS Literature Festival 2026 as part of the ‘TISS Navati’ celebrations at S Parasuraman Hall at its main campus. TISS Mumbai’s literature festival titled “Youth and Literature: Time & Memories” will be held on October 16 and 17.

Renowned filmmaker Subhash Ghai will grace the inauguration ceremony with his presence on Day 1. The opening session, which will be moderated by Anjum Sharma, will include a film screening of “TISS Navati: Nine Decades of Purpose”, a film reflecting on the institute’s journey since 1936.

The two-day event will feature panel discussions comprising distinguished personalities from the realms of literature, academia, theatre, cinema and art, followed by cultural performances by TISS Mumbai students.

“The festival has been conceptualised under the leadership of Badri Narayan Tiwari, the vice-chancellor of TISS , who is himself an acclaimed Hindi poet, scholar and a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award,” the press release said.

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TISS Mumbai Literature Festival 2026

According to the press release, Day 1 of the literature festival will feature a panel discussion on the theme “The Youth in Indian Novels”, chaired by T V Kattimani and moderated by Anil Tripathi, with Akhilesh, Narendra B Pathak, Sudha Singh and Vishwas Patil as panelists.

The post-lunch session will be dedicated to poetry recitation and discussion on the theme “Youth Voice and Memory” and will be chaired by Dhananjay Singh along with Anil Mishra, Ashish Tripathi, Dhanaji Ghorpade, Panna Trivedi, Raman Mishra, Shailja Pathak and Suryasnata Tripathy.

The session will be followed by a look at the art exhibition featuring art displays made by TISS Mumbai students and a music programme.

The Day 2 of TISS literature festival will begin with a discussion on the theme “Youth and Stories”, and will be chaired will be chaired by Sreenivas Rao and moderated by Ashutosh Thakur, with Anjum Sharma, Anil Tripathi and Rajkumar as the panelists.

The post-lunch panel discussion will be on the theme “Screening/Staging Youth”, chaired by filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia and moderated by Vikas Pathak, with Satya Vyas, Kamal Pandey and Yunus Khan as panelists.

The festival will conclude with a cultural programme and performances by TISS Mumbai students.