Kerala’s Yaanam Festival Ignites A Revolutionary Journey Of Travel Writing Exploration And Cultural Immersion With Global Voices

Published on October 8, 2025

Kerala’s Yaanam Festival is group to revolutionize nan measurement we acquisition recreation writing, offering an bonzer level for storytellers, explorers, and taste enthusiasts to travel together and prosecute successful transformative conversations. This groundbreaking event, celebrating nan powerfulness of storytelling, recreation exploration, and taste immersion, brings together renowned authors, bloggers, contented creators, and thinkers from crossed nan globe to delve into nan multifaceted world of travel. By blending literate productivity pinch nan allure of Kerala’s stunning landscapes, Yaanam invites attendees to research caller dimensions of travel, from its individual effect connected writers to its power connected world civilization and tourism. The show not only highlights Kerala’s rich | taste practice but besides positions nan authorities arsenic a premier destination for recreation writing, making it a must-attend for anyone passionate astir nan transformative powerfulness of recreation and storytelling.

Yaanam: Kerala’s Premier Travel Literature Festival

Yaanam, Kerala’s first-ever recreation lit festival, is group to make waves arsenic it celebrates nan creation of storytelling, recreation writing, and exploration. This unsocial event, organized by nan Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, is not only a literate show but besides a vibrant gathering that will item nan intersection of literature, travel, and culture. The festival’s origins day backmost to 2017 erstwhile nan show curator and author, Sabin Iqbal, projected nan conception of a travel-themed show named Books connected nan Beach successful Kovalam, a picturesque coastal municipality successful Thiruvananthapuram. The thought was aimed astatine promoting nan beauty of Kerala’s beaches and coastal regions done literature. However, owed to unforeseen circumstances, nan thought remained dormant.

In 2023, nan Kerala Tourism Department decided to revive nan concept, giving it a caller sanction and direction. The show was renamed Yaanam, derived from nan Sanskrit connection for “travel.” The arena promises to beryllium a ceremony of recreation successful each its forms— from nan individual journeys of nan writers themselves to nan vast, unexplored corners of nan world that person inspired countless tales. This year, nan taxable “Of Tales, Trails, and Travel” invites writers, bloggers, recreation enthusiasts, and thinkers to talk and bespeak connected travel’s galore facets.

Scheduled to return spot from October 17 to 19 successful Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram, Yaanam intends to research recreation beyond specified destinations. It will delve into various aspects of nan recreation industry, including recreation writing, nan effect of exertion connected travel, and nan challenges and opportunities that originate from nan increasing liking successful recreation arsenic a taste and economical phenomenon. The show will bring together a divers array of speakers from different backgrounds, from well-known authors to contented creators and journalists, creating a move level for cross-disciplinary discussions.

At nan bosom of Yaanam is its imagination of being an annual, walking show that shifts betwixt different locations wrong Kerala. Each year, nan show will research caller areas of nan state, showcasing nan diverseness of Kerala’s landscapes and cultures while simultaneously enhancing nan state’s tourism appeal. By bringing together recreation writers, bloggers, and enthusiasts from each complete nan world, Yaanam will create a abstraction for speech that connects nan section civilization pinch nan world sermon connected recreation and exploration.

Festival curator Sabin Iqbal, who has played an instrumental domiciled successful shaping nan imagination of Yaanam, views this arena arsenic an opportunity not only to observe recreation penning but besides to beforehand Kerala arsenic a premier destination for recreation writers and explorers. He emphasizes nan request for greater visibility and strategical trading of Kerala’s recreation and tourism offerings. In his words, nan show seeks to “understand really we tin turn nan marque of Kerala successful position of visibility and marketing” done nan powerfulness of literature, discussions, and taste exchanges.

A cardinal item of nan show will beryllium nan beingness of Shehan Karunatilaka, nan Sri Lankan writer who won nan prestigious Booker Prize successful 2022 for his caller The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Karunatilaka’s information will beryllium a important tie for attendees, providing an opportunity to perceive from a Booker Prize-winning writer whose activity has explored themes of travel, history, and identity. His insights into nan domiciled of lit successful shaping our knowing of recreation and spot will adhd extent to nan festival’s discussions.

In summation to Karunatilaka, a divers scope of speakers from various fields will lend to nan festival. These see writer Madhu Raghavendra, contented creator Kritika Goel, journalists Binoo K. John and Pallavi Aiyar, and writers Ullekh NP and Anurag Mallick. Piya Bahadur, an entrepreneur pinch a heavy liking successful travel, will besides beryllium speaking astatine nan event. These speakers, pinch their varied backgrounds and expertise, will lend to nan rich | conversations astir nan domiciled of recreation successful modern lit and culture.

The show will not beryllium constricted to sheet discussions and literate events alone. It will besides characteristic evening taste programs that will beryllium unfastened to nan public, offering attendees a chance to acquisition Kerala’s rich | traditions of music, dance, and art. The taste events will supply a unsocial opportunity for visitors to prosecute pinch nan section civilization and research nan connections betwixt travel, culture, and storytelling.

Entry to nan show itself will beryllium constricted to astir 150 to 200 people, ensuring an friendly and focused acquisition for those attending. This smaller gathering will promote meaningful conversations and interactions betwixt participants and speakers. The constricted introduction ensures that nan show remains a abstraction for in-depth discussions, networking, and nan sharing of ideas, while nan nationalist taste events will let a wider assemblage to participate successful nan festival’s celebrations.

Yaanam represents much than conscionable a literate event; it is simply a ceremony of nan journey—both literal and figurative—that defines nan world of recreation writing. It brings together a organization of storytellers who are agreed by their emotion for exploration, whether done nan pages of a book aliases nan real-world journeys they undertake. Through its exploration of literature, technology, and culture, Yaanam will connection caller perspectives connected nan ways successful which recreation shapes our lives and our knowing of nan world astir us.

Kerala’s Yaanam Festival is simply a revolutionary ceremony of recreation writing, exploration, and taste immersion, bringing together world voices to research nan transformative powerfulness of storytelling against nan backdrop of Kerala’s stunning landscapes. It positions Kerala arsenic a premier destination for recreation writers, offering a unsocial level for passionate discussions connected travel’s power connected civilization and tourism.

By combining nan powerfulness of storytelling pinch nan beauty of Kerala’s landscapes, Yaanam promises to beryllium a show for illustration nary other, inviting participants to research nan transformative powerfulness of recreation while celebrating Kerala’s unsocial taste and earthy heritage.