Most of us who read a lot tend to carry a quiet contradiction within us. We love literary festivals, and we dread them a little at the same time.

The idea is perfect. A gathering of writers, readers, translators, and thinkers. Entire days devoted to books and bookish conversations. But the experience rarely matches the imagination. You arrive with a marked programme and good intentions. But by noon, you’re navigating crowds, recalculating which venue you can reach in time, and discovering that the session you really wanted has a queue longer than your TBR. You sit through half of one discussion while thinking about the other you are missing, and by evening, you’ve accumulated bookmarks, tote bags, fragments of conversations, and a mild exhaustion that feels oddly disproportionate to an event about reading.

You cannot deny it, but you are a little bit relieved when you can escape the crowd and go back home to actual reading. Somewhere, quietly, we accepted that loving books requires a surprising amount of logistical stamina.

The Laid-back Lit Fest begins from the suspicion that perhaps it doesn’t have to.

Instead of compressing everything into a weekend of urgency, it stretches itself out gently across weeks. One session at a time. Every Sunday at five pm, you attend it in your pjs from wherever you already read: the corner of the sofa, the desk beside your bed, the chair you never quite sit straight in. There is no planning required beyond remembering the time. The festival comes to you and then leaves you alone with your thoughts afterwards. And, let’s be honest, it also gives you a reason to avoid that family gathering that constantly tries to pull you into reality from whichever fictional world you are currently inhabiting.

It changes the nature of attention in a subtle but important way. At most festivals, you listen while also calculating: what am I missing, how long before the next session, should I leave early to reach the other hall? Here, nothing competes with anything else. When a conversation begins, it has the whole space. You are not dividing your mind between rooms, and the speakers are not racing against a schedule.

The change sounds small until you imagine the feeling of it. At most festivals, attention is constantly interrupted. Whether by movement, or by logistics, or by the quiet anxiety that something else is happening elsewhere. Even while listening, part of your mind is tracking time. Here, the conversation is the entire event. When it ends, nothing follows immediately. You don’t spill out into a crowd. You don’t scan a map. You sit for a minute longer than usual, the way you sometimes sit after finishing a good chapter. And let’s not forget the overpriced food that tastes underwhelming – like the Booktok sensation that left you slightly bored.

Over weeks, that rhythm begins to matter. Instead of one overwhelming literary weekend that blurs into memory, the conversations space themselves out. You carry one idea into the next Sunday. A comment lingers. A disagreement matures. You begin to notice something you rarely get from festivals: continuity. A slow accumulation throughout the year.

The sessions themselves are built with that patience in mind. There are familiar names, certainly, but the focus is less on spectacle and more on conversation. You might spend an evening listening to Deepa Bhasthi talk about translation, another with Dibakar Banerjee wandering through cinema and censorship, and another hearing Rahul Pandita or Vandana Vasudevan consider how the country keeps changing beneath our narratives.

There are also conversations that rarely find a place on big stages. Ghostwriting, a profession everyone knows exists but pretends not to, will be discussed openly, not as gossip but as a craft. And a session dedicated to Vinod Kumar Shukla gives time to a writer whose work asks for quiet attention, something difficult to provide in crowded halls. These are not events you rush through; they are ones you return to mentally days later, often mid-page while reading something else.

These are not sessions you rush through.

What we are really attempting with the festival is a shift in rhythm. In India, literary conversation often arrives in bursts: a season of festivals followed by long stretches of quiet. The Laid-back Lit Fest moves at a pace closer to a reading habit than an event calendar. It demands your attention without urgency.

The first edition begins on the first of March, 2026. If you’ve ever left a lit fest thinking you loved the conversations but wished for less commotion around them, this might feel familiar in a way physical festivals rarely do; less like attending something, and more like joining it.

Pull up your usual reading chair. The session will start whether you’re ready or not, and for once, that’s entirely the point.

FAQs

Why has the Himalayan Writing Retreat created this Laidback lit fest?

The Laid-back Lit Fest has been created for the same reason as any other lit fest – for the love of reading. In waiting areas, airports and metros we see fewer people reading books. We believe the more conversations and attention that literature and authors get, the better.

India already has some 150 Lit fests. Do we really need one more now? That too online?

Yes, we know that India has a huge number of Lit Fests. In fact, we made a list here.

The fest is online for many reasons: 

• Some people are unable to travel because of personal reasons like jobs, exams and caregiving. 
• Others are unwilling – they don’t want to deal with the hassle of travel 
• Yet others abhor the crowds and chaos of physical Lit Fests (like the quiet mountain dwellers at the Himalayan Writing Retreat [Link]).
• Lit fests explode in winter’s glow ❄️📚—3-4 months — then BAM! A literary Sahara sucks the fun dry till next season. 🏜️ (at least for those unwilling to travel to the mountains. Or the southern Hemisphere)
• Online means fewer flights and a smaller carbon footprint. 

The Laid-back Lit Fest allows everyone to engage online with Artists and talented craftspeople throughout the year, irrespective of the weather, without ever leaving their home.  You chat with authors who have done research and understand things deeply, and many others.

Why doesn’t the Laid Back Lit fest have any concurrent sessions?

Life is full of tough choices already. Concurrent sessions are yet another difficult choice. We want to reduce FOMO, so we don’t want anyone to miss out on anything.

Is there any Physical component to this Lit Fest at all?

At this point, no. We are open to any suggestions or ideas you may have. You can send us your suggestions here.

Why once every week on a Sunday?

We had to start somewhere. We are open to any suggestions or ideas you may have. You can send us your suggestions here.

Why four times a year?

We just figured that will be a good frequency. We are open to any suggestions or ideas you may have. You can send us your suggestions here.

Can I get any book I want signed by the Author?

No. There is a preselected set of books that we have available that we will have signed and shipped. There may be some (but not all) books by a particular participating author in our store.

Can I sign up for just some sessions, and not all?

No. You cannot sign up for individual sessions.

Are there any discounts for students / senior citizens / Military people?

No. We offer no discounts.

Can I suggest authors’ names / session?

Yes. We welcome your inputs. You can send us your suggestions here.

Who are the organisers of this Lit fest?

The Himalayan Writing Retreat has started this Lit Fest. Click here to know more about us.

Created in 2016, The Himalayan Writing Retreat is today a favoured destination for readers looking for solitude and like-minded people. It is also a second home to writers, poets and other creators looking for learning and inspiration. The retreat is a residential facility located in the Kumaon region of the Indian Himalayas. The retreat is consistently rated 5-star.  It was co-founded by published authors Chetan Mahajan and Vandita Dubey. The Himalayan Writing Retreat caters to domestic as well as International audiences. While it hosts most of its courses in the Himalayas, in 2025 it also hosted events in the UAE and Mongolia. The domestic courses include poetry, creative writing, non-fiction writing, Hindi writing, translation, storytelling, script-writing, film-appreciation etc. Our faculty members, in alphabetical order,  include Annie Zaidi, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Devdutt Pattanaik, Dibakar Banerjee, Gurcharan Das, Jerry Pinto, Manav Kaul, Ranjit Hoskote, Shekhar Kapur, Varun Grover and others. International Faculty members include Aimee Nezhukumatathil,  Erika Krouse, Kathleen Rooney and others from the USA, Rana Dasgupta and Jacqui Lofthouse from the UK, and Kelly Rigby from Australia.

Many of our Alums have gone on to study overseas. The Himalayan Writing Retreat is also one of the selected partners for the French Residency under the “Villa Swagatam” initiative of the French Institute. Our Charitable initiative, the First Draft Club, supports the NGO-run Chirag School and early-stage writers. We raise approximately 1/3 of the school’s annual budget through the First Draft Club and other fundraising activities.

 To support writers, we run the Himalayan Emerging Writers Residency andalso the HWR Khozem Merchant non-fiction fellowship.

Our Book Club with 550+ members is also free.

Why do you charge for this lit fest when some others are free?

Most physical Lit Fests have sponsors and, therefore, are able to subsidise the participant fees. The Laidback Lit Fest has no sponsor, and so we charge a nominal amount of INR 500 from our participants to make this Lit Fest possible.

What is the money collected in this Lit fest used for?

The funds collected through the small fee we charge go into organising the Lit Fest. Any leftover amount goes to support aspiring authors by way of the residencies and subsidised events that HWR offers.

How else does HWR support reading?

We host reading retreats 3-4 times every year. During these reading retreats, participants come to the retreat to find solitude, silence and read. They also find like-minded people and excellent hospitality.

What is the First Draft Club, and how is LLF related to it?

All writers stumble. Many of us hit the same roadblocks. Writers – like all humans – benefit from community. It helps us to know that we didn’t stumble alone. That our struggles are not unique.

The First Draft Club is a community of writers, poets and authors. Some are first-timers, others are published and have won awards. But nobody is alone. In the FDC, we share challenges and discuss writerly topics. Some of us edit, some compose, and many write.

As a part of the FDC, you also automatically get to attend the Laidback Lit Fest. 

The FDC is probably India’s most interactive support group for writers. To learn more, click here.