The Galle Literary Festival 2025 which begins today will over the next next three days host an exceptional lineup of speakers, each bringing a unique perspective to storytelling, history, and culture. Dr. Eithne Nightingale, a researcher, writer, and filmmaker, will share powerful oral histories of child migration, highlighting untold narratives of resilience.

Award-winning TV chef Andi Oliver will explore the intersection of food, community, and activism, offering insights into heritage Caribbean cuisine. Bestselling author Kate Mosse will celebrate 20 years of her writing career and the 30th anniversary of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Acclaimed British journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera, known for his works Empireland and The Boy with the Topknot, will offer thought-provoking insights into Britain’s imperial legacy and its lasting impact.

With engaging discussions and diverse perspectives, this year’s festival promises to inspire, connect, and spark meaningful conversations. 

Dr Eithne Nightingale - Researcher, writer and filmmaker

Q WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO AT THE GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL THIS YEAR? Hearing from, and meeting, some of my favourite authors as well as new ones from across the Sri Lankan diaspora and beyond; exploring the art trail and discussing the days’ events with authors, artists and audiences over gourmet feasts from world-renowned chefs in the homes and hotels of Galle.

Q CAN YOU GIVE US A GLIMPSE OF WHAT AUDIENCES CAN EXPECT FROM YOUR SESSIONS AT THE FESTIVAL? Storytelling of People’s Histories: Friday 10.15 - 11.15 When in Galle. I will be sharing experiences of collecting and sharing oral histories from people who migrated as children to the UK with Radhika Hettiarachchi, who has collected marginalised histories in Sri Lanka of women, in particular, and with Aanchal Malhotra who has explored the long-term, cross-border, generational impact of the 1947 Partition. It promises to be a fascinating discussion. Child Migrant Voices: Saturday 11.30 - 13.00. Free event in Maritime.

I will share powerful stories of child migration through book readings from Child Migrant Voices in Modern Britain: Oral Histories 1930s - Present Day about, and by, Hajra Willams who migrated as a young girl from Pakistan in 1975 and settled in Scotland. We will also be screening a film about a young girl, Linh Vu, aged eight, who escaped Vietnam by boat with her father. This will be followed by discussion and book signings.

Q WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN THE GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL, AND HOW DOES IT FEEL TO CONNECT WITH READERS IN SUCH A UNIQUE SETTING? I visited the Galle Literary Festival in 2010 - 15 years ago and wrote a travel article for the newspaper, The Australian. It was a wonderful experience - a beautiful setting, great speakers and a chance to meet with authors in intimate settings over delicious meals. I also followed up on and wrote about a family in Mirissa caught up in the tsunami and with whom I had previously stayed. The festival was absolutely unforgettable so I am delighted to share my book published in February 2024 by Bloomsbury at the festival and to discuss this with audiences from around the world.

Q COULD YOU SHARE INSIGHTS INTO YOUR CURRENT PROJECTS OR ANY EXCITING WORKS YOU ARE WORKING ON RIGHT NOW? Child Migrant Stories is soon to produce a series of podcasts about child migration as well as continuing with events including films, book readings, music performances and discussions by people featured in the book who have lived the experience of child migration. We are also developing learning materials for schools based on the films and books. In the book there are stories of migration from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh but not from Sri Lanka, something that would be good to address.  

I am also researching the experiences of 50 unaccompanied young asylum seekers for the Welsh Strategic Migration Partnership. I am also completing and searching for an agent/publisher for my own childhood memoir Sermons, Sardines and the Rolling Stones of growing up in a vicarage childhood in Lancashire in the 1950s and 1960s. Having asked other people about their childhood it seemed incumbent on me to share my own. There is some link - my mother migrated from Ireland to England as a teenager.  

Q HOW DO FESTIVALS LIKE THIS CONTRIBUTE TO THE LITERARY WORLD, AND WHY DO YOU THINK THEY ARE IMPORTANT FOR AUTHORS AND READERS ALIKE? Festivals like these contribute to both a local and global perspective, feature well-known and emerging writers, and highlight important areas of discussion like the role of oral histories in uncovering marginalised stories. They also link the literary with other artistic practices and encourage participation. The dinners in intimate, romantic settings where authors and readers can meet are brilliant.

Q WHAT’S ONE KEY MESSAGE OR IDEA YOU HOPE PEOPLE WILL TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR WRITING OR DISCUSSIONS DURING THE FESTIVAL? The role of art in contributing to empathy, understanding, peace and social justice. 

Sathnam Sangera

Q WHAT’S ONE KEY MESSAGE OR IDEA YOU HOPE PEOPLE WILL TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR WRITING OR DISCUSSIONS DURING THE FESTIVAL? Just like in the British Empire, everything is a phase. I am looking forward to having a discourse about food, literature and community, and the important roles that all three play at a time when it seems like the whole world is in crisis.

Andi Oliver  - Award-winning TV chef and broadcaster.

Q WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO AT THE GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL THIS YEAR? I am looking forward to having discourse about food, literature and community and the important roles that all three play at a time when it seems like the whole world is in crisis.

Q CAN YOU GIVE US A GLIMPSE OF WHAT AUDIENCES CAN EXPECT FROM YOUR SESSIONS AT THE FESTIVAL? I will be cooking dishes that are inspired by heritage Caribbean recipes that also reflect how we think in a contemporary kitchen. I will be talking to other chefs and writers about what we can do to bring hope and light and perhaps just the right amount of fury to our communities to get us through what, for a lot of us feel like dark days indeed.

How do we maintain motivation when it feels exhausting? Both writing and reading are largely solitary. It’s always thrilling to find the larger community that is connected through the work! It’s like coming outside and dining in a whole new world that’s been experiencing the same work as you but through their own particular lens. It’s fascinating to find out how others interpret work that you have been immersed in either writing it or reading it! Also as a writer, it’s extraordinary to understand how your work has affected others. What an opportunity!

Q WHAT’S ONE KEY MESSAGE OR IDEA YOU HOPE PEOPLE WILL TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR WRITING OR DISCUSSIONS DURING THE FESTIVAL? I hope that people feel hopeful and are reminded that we are many, we are strong and we are not going anywhere!!  It’s a tricky time in the works right now and it’s easy to feel isolated. I want people to come away knowing they have a whole international connected network of loving thoughtful kind family.

Kate Mosse - Author

Q WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO AT THE GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL THIS YEAR? To see beautiful Galle for the first time and to meet readers, and fellow writers.

Q CAN YOU GIVE US A GLIMPSE OF WHAT AUDIENCES CAN EXPECT FROM YOUR SESSIONS AT THE FESTIVAL? I’ll be celebrating 20 years of my own writing career with Julia Wheeler, sharing the ups and the downs, the struggles and the triumphs and how Labyrinth changed my life. I'll be hosting an event for the 30th anniversary of the Women's Prize for Fiction, which is the largest annual celebration of women's creativity in the world.  It will be especially exciting because our first ever Sri Lankan winner - V.V Ganeshanathan - will be there talking about her incredible novel Brotherless Night.

Q WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN THE GALLE LITERARY FESTIVAL, AND HOW DOES IT FEEL TO CONNECT WITH READERS IN SUCH A UNIQUE SETTING? I have had many author friends who’ve attended, all of whom have told me that it’s one of the most friendly, most stimulating literary festivals anywhere in the I’m about to embark on a six-week theatre tour of the UK taking my one-woman show inspired by my novel Labyrinth to the stage; then it will be the 30th-anniversary celebrations for the Women's Prize for Fiction; then I'll be publishing my first ever YA book.  Called Feminist History for Every Day of the Year, it’s a celebration of amazing women and girls who’ve changed the world. After that, I’ll be sitting down to begin a new series of novels - this time, historical crime rather than adventure!  Watch this space.

Q HOW DO FESTIVALS LIKE THIS CONTRIBUTE TO THE LITERARY WORLD, AND WHY DO YOU THINK THEY ARE IMPORTANT FOR AUTHORS AND READERS ALIKE? Books bring us together, they build empathy, entertain, and help us to stand in other people’s shoes.  Now in particular, where there are so many challenges, readers and writers coming together to talk about works of imagination, of vision, of integrity, of diversity, festivals are essential. They speak across time, across countries, across boundaries.

Q WHAT’S ONE KEY MESSAGE OR IDEA YOU HOPE PEOPLE WILL TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR WRITING OR DISCUSSIONS DURING THE FESTIVAL? That books matter, that books change the world, that we have the power to make things better if we stand shoulder to shoulder.