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Literary festivals in India tend to have obvious locations. Jaipur gets the pink-city romance, Mumbai gets the sea breeze and the industry air-kissing. What Sikkim's Ridge Park in Gangtok offers, when the second edition of the Sikkim Arts and Literature Festival opens on April 26, is something none of those venues can replicate: the Eastern Himalayas as a backdrop.
The festival is a Government of Sikkim initiative, produced by Teamwork Arts, the people behind Jaipur Literature Festival. It runs April 26-28, and the speaker list this year has a bit of everything. William Dalrymple is here, which tends to function as a shorthand for 'serious literary gathering' in the Indian festival circuit, and he's in good company: Sahitya Akademi Award-winning Arunachal author Mamang Dai, poet and literary critic Ranjit Hoskote, and Namita Gokhale, who co-directs JLF.
What's even more interesting, though, is the Northeast-heavy programming that sits alongside (and within) the big names – like Robin S Ngangom, one of the most important poets writing from Manipur. The Eastern Himalayas have their own literary ecosystem frequently overlooked by the mainland cultural press, and a festival rooted here inherently does something meaningful.
The wider lineup stretches across graphic novelist Rachita Taneja, journalist-writer Hoihnu Hauzel from Manipur, climate writer Mridula Ramesh, cultural historian Bishnupriya Dutt, and Sandip Roy, among others. Themes, per the organisers, range from mental health and cultural memory to ecology and identity – the sort of broad remit that can mean everything or nothing, depending on execution – and we’ve got high expectations.
April in Sikkim, for what it's worth, is reason enough to go.
When: April 26-28
Where: The Ridge Park, Gangtok, Sikkim
How to reach: It's a 15-20 minute walk from MG Marg.
Price: Free for all days
Where to register: Visit their website.