Khushwant Singh Literary Festival Sutton 2026

We are delighted to announce the much-awaited return of the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival (KSLF) to London for its 8th edition. And to Sutton for the first time.

The festival is absolutely free and includes sessions of discussions on books that matter and an evening of music.

The theme, Rewilding the Mind: Ecology, Storytelling, Heritage and the Future, explores how stories — ancient and contemporary — carry the wisdom of landscapes, species, and communities, reconnecting us to the earth and to each other. Through novels, poetry, folklore, and oral traditions, we examine how writers, past and present, have preserved ecological memory, advocated for nature, and imagined futures where humans live in harmony with their environment and heritage. Come, let's take our humanity across borders, over words, over conversations, and over books. Rediscover the natural world through the lens of literature, honouring the deep-rooted heritage of ecological storytelling while seeking new narratives for a planet in peril.

Speakers (running order to be announced):

Alexander McCall Smith

Join worldwide best-selling author, Sir Alexander McCall Smith for an afternoon of sheer delight. The master storyteller will entertain you with tales from his many series of books, including the 44 Scotland Street novels and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He will also be celebrating the publication of the latest Isabel Dalhousie Novel, The Subtle Pleasures of Indiscretion, and new poetry collection, The Kind Company of Others.

Arisa Loomba

Arisa Loomba has recently completed a PhD in Global and Imperial History at the University of Oxford. Her research centers on migration and travel cultures across the British Empire, and how they shaped some of the racial ideologies that we still contend with today. She was a researcher and collaborator on the Human Resources podcast

Leena Gupta

Leena Gupta is a Transformational Life Coach and Wellness Expert, TEDx Speaker, and Founder & CEO of Leena Gupta Inc. She has trained over 25,000 people spanning 25 countries over two decades. She is also a Senior International Faculty with the Art of Living Foundation NGO for over 23 years and has been personally mentored by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. She is an executive committee member at CFBP- (Council for Fair Business Practices) and has curated the “CFPB Holistic Health Summit’’ in 2023 and 2024.

Leena has worked with several Fortune 500 companies and major corporates like Adobe, British Gas, Barclays Bank, Intel, Crompton Greaves, Jindal Steel, IBM, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Shapoorji Pallonji, among many others. She has designed programs for cancer patients, women, and youth, training and empowering them.

Through her thoughtfully curated programs, clients learn to manage stress levels, enhance awareness, get creative in problem-solving, create work-life harmony, and anchor into their essence. She blends ancient wisdom with practical yet powerful techniques to help her clients to live intentionally and tap into their inner source and reservoir of talent, potential, joy, and creativity. Her signature techniques, like Radical Mission Statement, 4-5-6 Breath Work, Happy Mirror Work, and Guided Meditations, 80/20 Trashcan Rule have helped thousands of clients experience personal transformation, breakthroughs, inner peace, strength, and happiness.

Several organizations have recognized Leena for her work in Transformational Life Coaching and Wellness and Happiness management. She is a recipient of the FICCI Ladies Organization Women Achiever Award and The Woman of Excellence Award.

She has grown up in the US and is an alumna of Smith College. She has also lived in the UK, Thailand, and Hong Kong, among other countries. This has helped her garner a keen sense of cultures, perspectives, philosophies, and languages, which has helped her craft and fine-tune her signature techniques.

Her first book, “Anchor Within,” which provides essential life lessons and practical tools we missed learning in our childhood has just been published by Penguin and is in bookstores now. This book helps the reader to shift the focus from looking for love, acceptance, and validation from the outer world to looking inward and connecting to their essence, which is filled with love, peace, and joy. This book will provide the readers with a roadmap to re-invent themselves and operate from inner stability, strength, and sovereignty.

Leena lives by her mottos of “Carpe Diem” and “Success is an inside job”.