Sakal Lit Fest 2026 in Pune: Weekend Schedule at BORI and SARTHI With Ramachandra Guha, Amish Tripathi
The four-day Sakal Lit Fest at BORI and SARTHI ends on Sunday. Here are the weekend highlights, venues, ticketed shows and the children’s festival.
Photo: DesiBoy101 / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pune, 13th November 2026: The Sakal Lit Fest 2026 enters its final weekend at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) and SARTHI in Shivajinagar, with Ramachandra Guha, Amish Tripathi, Justice S Muralidhar and Arshia Sattar among the speakers on Saturday and Sunday. The four-day festival runs until Sunday, November 15.
It was inaugurated on Thursday, November 12, by Booker Prize-winning Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq and Marathi writer Dr Aruna Dhere, Sakal reported. Sakal says the festival has more than 110 sessions in Marathi, Hindi and English.
Venues
According to the festival website, sessions are spread across four halls at two neighbouring campuses:
- BORI, ILS Law College Road, Shivajinagar: Halls 1 and 2
- SARTHI, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar Road, Shivajinagar, beside Balchitravani: Halls 3 and 4
Saturday, November 14: highlights
- 10 am: Justice S Muralidhar on the Constitution (Hall 1)
- 12 noon: Raj Thackeray in conversation with Nilesh Khare (Hall 1)
- 12 noon: Where’s Marathi’s Booker? A panel on translation (Hall 2)
- 1 pm: What Pune Knows About Kashmir That Delhi Doesn’t (Hall 2)
- 2 pm: Where Does Free Speech End? with Justice Muralidhar and Aseem Sarode (Hall 1)
- 2 pm: It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, on emotional health, with Natasha Joshi and Dr Shirisha Sathe (Hall 2)
- 5 pm: Ramachandra Guha’s keynote, Why Gandhi Still Matters (Hall 1)
- 7 pm to 10 pm: Nayab Midha (ticketed)
Sunday, November 15: highlights
- 10 am: Arshia Sattar on Three Hundred Ramayanas (Hall 1)
- 11 am: Cartoonists Alok and Manjul on cartoons and humour (Hall 1)
- 12 noon: Ramachandra Guha and Sadanand More in conversation (Hall 1)
- 12 noon: Kishor Kadam and Arvind Jagtap in a Marathi session (Hall 3)
- 1 pm: The New Divide: Who Gets Left Behind by AI? with Jibu Elias (Hall 2)
- 3 pm: Amish Tripathi on Dhruv-Tara (Hall 1)
- 7 pm to 10 pm: Chanakya (ticketed)
The website lists some sessions as “coming soon”, and a few hall assignments are unclear, so check the schedule on the day.
Children’s Lit Fest
A children’s festival runs alongside on both days for ages 3 to 16. It includes storytelling, puppet-making, Kaavad Katha, cartoon workshops and a philosophy workshop for ages 8 to 16. Some workshops need separate registration.
Tickets and entry
The festival website marks the two evening shows as ticketed and lists registration through sakallitfest.com and Ticketkhidakee. It does not state a general entry fee for daytime sessions, so register online before you go.
Getting there
BORI and SARTHI are a short walk apart near Fergusson College Road. The nearest metro stations are on the Purple and Aqua lines around Shivajinagar and Deccan; see our Pune Metro timings and fares guide. Parking on ILS Law College Road fills up fast on weekends.
For more this weekend, see Pune events this weekend, and mark the dates for the Pune Book Festival 2026 in December.
Frequently asked questions
When is Sakal Lit Fest 2026?
The festival runs from 12 to 15 November 2026 in Pune.
Where is Sakal Lit Fest 2026 held?
At BORI on ILS Law College Road and SARTHI on Gopal Ganesh Agarkar Road, both in Shivajinagar.
Is Sakal Lit Fest free?
The website marks the two evening shows on 14 and 15 November as ticketed and asks visitors to register online. It does not state a fee for daytime sessions.
Who are the main speakers this weekend?
Ramachandra Guha, Amish Tripathi, Justice S Muralidhar, Arshia Sattar and Raj Thackeray are among the listed speakers.
