Living Tamil LitFest 2026

Day 1 schedule | April 3, 2026 | New York
Bringing Modern Tamil Literature to the world

check-in

9 am- 10 Am

Inaugural Session

10 AM -11 AM

Speakers

Damion Searls
Damion Searls
Jeyamohan
Jeyamohan
Padma Viswanathan
Padma Viswanathan
Soundararajan Varathappan
Soundararajan Varathappan
Pazhani Jothi
Pazhani Jothi

Moderator

Srinidhi Sriram,

Coffee Break

Setting Cultures And Modern Literature​

11:30 AM -12:40 PM

Speakers

Esther Allen
Esther Allen
Giridharan Rajagopalan
Giridharan Rajagopalan
Suneel Krishnan
Suneel Krishnan

Moderator

R.S. Saha

Hall

Ka.Na. Subramaniam

The Timeless Humanity

11:30 AM -12:40 PM

Speakers

Peter Constantine
Peter Constantine
Sayanthan
Sayanthan
Ajithan
Ajithan

Moderator

Pranav Ravikumar

Hall

Sundara Ramaswamy

Lunch

The Advent Of Classicism

2:00 AM -3:10 PM

Speakers

Damion Searls
Damion Searls
Jeyamohan
Jeyamohan
Suchitra Ramachandran
Suchitra Ramachandran

Moderator

Megana Kumar

Hall

Ka.Na. Subramaniam

Poetry Now: Rhythm, Resistance And Reinvention

2:00 AM -3:10 PM

Speakers

Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Perundevi Srinivasan
Perundevi Srinivasan
Remitha Satheesh
Remitha Satheesh

Moderator

R.S. Saha

Hall

Sundara Ramaswamy

coffee break

Poetry Yesterday And Today

3:30 PM -4:40 PM

Speakers

Vivek Narayanan
Vivek Narayanan
Elango Krishnan
Elango Krishnan
Veyyil
Veyyil

Moderator

Vaishalini Mylappan

Hall

Ka.Na. Subramaniam

Through Her Lens

3:30 PM -4:40 PM

Speakers

Padma Viswanathan
Padma Viswanathan
A. Vennila
A. Vennila
Chandra Thangaraj
Chandra Thangaraj

Moderator

Sahana Kumar

Hall

Sundara Ramaswamy

coffee break

A Tapestry Of Truths: Navigating Identity In Contemporary Literature

5:00 PM -6:10 PM

Speakers

Geraldine Jenkins
Geraldine Jenkins
Chaidhanya
Chaidhanya

Moderator

Jyoshitaa Mahendrarajan

Hall

Ka.Na. Subramaniam

Vishnupuram Literary Circle’s Update

5:00 PM -6:10 PM

Speakers

Maheswari Ramar
Maheswari Ramar
Viswanathan Mahalingam
Viswanathan Mahalingam
Prasad Venkat
Prasad Venkat

Moderator

Navita Sivakumar

Hall

Sundara Ramaswamy

dinner

Arun Mahizhnan

Arun Mahizhnan

Advisor

He has spent most of his career in culture and communications fields as practitioner, policy analyst and educator. He works for the Institute of Policy Studies and taught at the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University. Beyond his professional career, he has been active in serving the Tamil community. Over four decades, he has collaborated with government agencies and community organisations to develop the community’s intellectual and cultural resources. His current project is to launch the first Encyclopedia of Singapore Tamils, an online resource in Tamil and English.