GALF 2026

Speakers

Gabriela Babnik Ouattara (1979) is a Slovenian writer, literary critic, translator, and founder of the publishing house Hirondelle. She holds a master’s degree in postcolonial studies, focusing on the Nigerian novel and the works of Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. Since 2002, she has contributed essays, criticism, and interviews to major Slovenian literary journals, receiving the Stritar Award for best literary critics in 2013. Her debut novel Koža iz bombaža won the Slovenian Book Fair Award for best debut. Subsequent works include In the Tall Grass, Dry Season—winner of the 2013 European Union Prize for Literature and translated into fifteen languages—and Silence, Full of Wind. As a translator, she introduced Slovenian readers to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Binyavanga Wainaina. In 2022, Babnik published Silence, full of the wind (Beletrina, 2022), a literary biography of Charles Baudelaire and Jeanne Duval. Her 2025 novel, Nostalgia for the Future (Beletrina, 2025), explores the life of the first Slovenian professional painter Ivana Kobilca; a film adaptation is currently in development. She plans to complete a trilogy focusing on Coco Chanel and the literary exploration of scent. A recipient of the European Union Prize for Literature, she has been a guest in New Delhi -Long Night Literature Festival. Gabriela Babnik Ouattara also hosts popular cross-cultural literary podcasts for Radio Agora (Austria) and continues to teach Slovenian language and literature while leading various creative and editorial projects.

Gabriela

Gabriela Babnik Ouattara (1979) is a Slovenian writer, literary critic, translator, and founder of the publishing house Hirondelle. She holds…

Anindita Ghose is a writer, editor and communications consultant from Bombay. Her debut novel The Illuminated was published by Harper Collins in India and by Bloomsbury internationally. BBC Radio 4 said it ‘gives voice to a new generation’. Anindita was formerly the Editor of Mint Lounge and the Features Director of Vogue India. Most recently, she led strategic communications for a global social impact advisory. Anindita has a master’s degree in linguistics from the University of Mumbai and a master’s degree in arts journalism from Columbia University.  Anindita’s new book The Only City is a landmark anthology of short stories on Bombay that she has conceived and edited, and it also features a short story by her.

Anindita Ghose

Anindita Ghose is a writer, editor and communications consultant from Bombay. Her debut novel The Illuminated was published by Harper Collins in India…

Shehnab Sahin is a former civil servant and currently an international humanitarian worker whose work spans some of the most fragile, war-torn regions. She holds advance degrees in history from St.Stephens college, University of Delhi and in International development from the University of Torino, Italy. She also has a post-graduate diploma in European studies from the University of Vienna.  Currently, working as the Regional Director for COSV, an Italian INGO, she implements programs for the socio-economic recovery of war ravaged conflict and post conflict societies such as in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.  She recently published her first compendium of stories in a book titled ‘Colour My Grave Purple’, in the historical fiction genre, spanning 160 years of Assam’s history.

Shehnab Sahin

Shehnab Sahin is a former civil servant and currently an international humanitarian worker whose work spans some of the most fragile,…

Ajay Kamalakaran is a writer and journalist, based in Mumbai.  He has lived in the United States and Russia, and is a regular visitor to China, Sri Lanka and former Soviet republics. His key areas of focus are history, language, geography, and migration.  Ajay's latest book Colombo: Port of Call was published by Penguin Random House, India in January 2026. He is also the author of Globetrotting for Love and Other Stories from Sakhalin Island and A Week in the Life of Svitlana.  His articles regularly appear on Scroll, Russia Beyond, Open, Manorama Online, Gateway House and other publications. He speaks Russian, French, Italian and a smattering of Indian and European languages.

Ajay Kamalakaran

Ajay Kamalakaran is a writer and journalist, based in Mumbai.  He has lived in the United States and Russia, and…

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Goa Literature Festivals

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