New Delhi: Vivek Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry Culture, held a press conference on 10 September 2025 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi and informed the media about the forthcoming Seminar being organized by the Ministry of Culture under Gyan Bharatam mission at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi from 11 to 13 September 2025 about the forthcoming Unmesha: International Literature Festival.Gyan Bharatam is a significant initiative of the Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture to survey, document, digitize, conserve, and provide public access to India's extensive manuscript heritage. Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Culture Smt. Amita Prasad Sarbhai, Member Secretary of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi and Secretary of Sahitya Akademi, Dr K. Sreenivasarao were also present.
Sahitya Akademi, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and the Government of Bihar, will organize the third edition of Unmesha, a four-day International Literature Festival at Samrat Ashok Convention Centre, Patna, Bihar, from 25 September 2025 to 28 September 2025.
Unmesha is Asia's largest and most inclusive international literature festival. In the third edition of Unmesha more than 550 eminent writers, poets, scholars, translators, publishers and distinguished personalities from various walks of life will be participating in the festival representing more than 100 languages. The festival will be held in 90 sessions spread over 4 days and writers from about 15 countries will participate. The two previous editions of Unmesh were held at Shimla in 2022 and at Bhopal in 2023.
Distinguished personalities like Sri Arif Mohammad Khan, Honourable Governor of Bihar, Sri Javed Akhtar, Sri Girish Kasaravalli, Dr Sonal Mansingh, Dr Irina Barmetova, Sri Navtej Sarna,
Dr Pratibha Ray, Sri Amol Palekar, Dr Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Prof H. S. Shivaprakash, Dr Kapil Kapoor, Mahamahopadhyaya Swami Bhadreshdas, K. Jayakumar, Ms. Anuja Chandramouli, ambassadors of several countries and many more will be featured in the festival.
There will be poetry and story reading sessions, panel discussions pertaining to important topics like Dharma Literature, Postmodern Indian Literature and Cinema, Promotion of Indian Literature in foreign languages, Machine Translation of Classical Indian Literature, Role of Literature in strengthening National Education Policy, The Role of Dalit Literature in Social Progress, Indian Literary Feminism, Migration and Identity Crisis of Tribal Communities, Bhakti Literature, Authors, Publishers and Copyright issues, Historical fiction, Women Indian Theatre etc. Tribal Writers' Meet, LGBTQ Writers Meet and much more. On the evenings of the festival days, there will be cultural performances including one performance by Grammy Award-winner Ricky Kej. Entry is free for all.
