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SALA 2026 Brings South Asian Writers, Artists and Ideas to the Bay Area
SALA 2026 returns to Menlo College this weekend with more than 22 panel discussions and a program spanning literature, film, science, visual art, food, history and performance.
The South Asian Literature & Art Festival takes place Saturday, September 26, and Sunday, September 27, in Atherton, California. Nobel laureates Venki Ramakrishnan and Kailash Satyarthi, filmmaker and actor Nandita Das, author Shobhaa De, writer Aatish Taseer, and illustrator and director Sanjay Patel are among this year’s featured participants.
That range is what puts SALA on our radar at Sanskar Savvy. We spend much of the year following the music, film, entertainment, and live events shaping South Asian culture. SALA gives us another opportunity to Celebrate, Explore, Connect! with the writers, artists, and thinkers examining that culture through their work.
This year’s theme, “The Global Gaze, The South Asian Soul,” runs through a schedule that looks at South Asia and its diaspora through identity, migration, science, leadership, history, and creative expression.
Books Are Only One Part of the Weekend
Saturday quickly shows how much ground SALA plans to cover. The opening sessions explore the model minority idea, poetry, and South Asian food. Later, 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate Venki Ramakrishnan joins author and science journalist Angela Saini for “Science of Death.”
The afternoon carries through leadership, art and literature. Karan Mahajan and Aatish Taseer appear together for a discussion on global writing, Sanjay Patel takes part in a video showcase, and Shobhaa De closes the main panel schedule in conversation with Dr. Anjali Arondekar. The programming continues Saturday evening with the Anirudh Varma Collective.
This range gives attendees room to follow one interest and inspiration into another. An author session can lead to science. Film can lead to poetry. A discussion of diaspora can open another door into history or visual art. SALA is not asking one speaker or subject to represent the South Asian experience as a whole. Instead, it brings many of those perspectives into the same space.
The Sunday Sessions on Our Radar
Several Sunday sessions instantly caught our attention. Authors Amitava Kumar and Manil Suri join moderator Vikram Chandra for “The Novel and the Nation,” while another session looks at a lesser-known piece of South Asian American history.
“Safar: The Journey of the Punjabi-Mexican Diaspora” features Madhushree Ghosh, Nicole Ranganath, Tejpaul Singh Bainiwal and Johanna Ogden, with Sonia Dhami moderating. The session puts the Punjabi-Mexican diaspora at the center of the discussion and offers a chance to learn more about a chapter of South Asian history in California that many attendees may not know.
Later, 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi joins VR Ferose for “Karuna: The Power of Compassion.” Sunday also brings short films, photography, Sikh voices and discussions of global affairs and politics in storytelling. Artist and educator Salima Hashmi appears in conversation with Kausar Munir before Nandita Das joins Tipu Purkayastha for an evening discussion. Das, whose directing credits include “Firaaq,” “Manto” and “Zwigato,” adds film to a weekend where ideas are moving across the page, screen, stage and gallery.
New Voices Share the Stage
SALA is also creating space for writers earlier in their careers. Its 2026 Writers Cohort is a six-month mentorship program led by author and educator Dr. Nandita Dinesh. Cohort members are scheduled to present their work during Saturday’s program.
That gives audiences a chance to discover writers alongside the established names drawing attention to the festival. People may arrive because they recognize someone on the schedule and leave following a writer, artist, or idea they encountered for the first time. For Sanskar Savvy, those discoveries are part of what makes the weekend worth covering.
Our SALA Coverage Continues
Our SALA coverage does not stop with this preview. We will continue sharing conversations with some of the writers, artists, and cultural voices connected to this year’s festival, along with a closer look at the work, planning, and collaboration behind the scenes that bring an event like SALA together.
Stay tuned as we Celebrate the people behind SALA, Explore what it takes to bring a festival like this to life, and Connect our community with the stories, ideas, and voices that make it happen.
The South Asian Literature & Art Festival takes place September 26 and 27 at Menlo College, 1000 El Camino Real in Atherton, California. The festival notes that its schedule is subject to change. We will be there to Celebrate the work, Explore the ideas, and Connect with some of the people behind them. Then we will bring their stories back to Sanskar Savvy.
