Highlights:
THE Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) USA concluded its 2026 tour with a three-day literary finale in Houston that brought together writers, thinkers and artists at four prominent venues across the city.
The ninth annual Houston edition, held from October 2-4, was hosted at Asia Society Texas, the Rothko Chapel, the Eternal Gandhi Museum Houston and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Saturday’s (3) program at Asia Society Texas featured discussions on literature, migration, technology, identity and history.
Among the panelists were Karan Mahajan, Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan, Daniel Pena, Suketu Mehta, Tayyba Kanwal, Nitin Seth and Rakesh Agrawal. Other sessions included “The Gujaratis”, featuring Salil Tripathi and Sree Sreenivasan, and “Writing the Past”, which featured Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni discussing Independence and Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri discussing Swallowing the Sun.
The day’s program concluded with “The Dissenters”, featuring Benjamin Moser and Sree Sreenivasan, and “The Groundbreaker”, featuring Kanwal Rekhi and Sunjay R Devarajan. The sessions were followed by a reception at the Indian Consulate.
Sunday’s (4) events began at the Rothko Chapel with “Mausiqui: A Story You Listen To”, featuring Nagibul Islam and Hidayat Husain Khan. The program also featured poetry readings by Youth Poet Laureate Kaviya Dhir and students from The Fay School.
The festival concluded in the evening at the Eternal Gandhi Museum Houston with “A Life Divine: In Aurobindo’s Words”.
The Houston finale marked the culmination of JLF USA’s 2026 tour, which traveled across several US states and major metropolitan centers.
“JLF continues to bridge cultures and ignite conversations across the globe,” said Sanjoy K Roy, managing director of Teamwork Arts and producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke addresses supporters during a protest demanding the resignation of India's chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged voter-roll irregularities in Mumbai on October 2, 2026. Indian protesters rallied in New Delhi and Mumbai on October 2, including members of the popular youth-led "cockroach" party, demanding the resignation of the chief election commissioner over alleged voter-roll irregularities.Getty Images
