The Story
OrganizerMathrubhumi, founded in 1923 by freedom fighters in Kozhikode, has been one of Kerala's most influential media voices for over a century. The Malayalam daily newspaper became a cornerstone of the state's literary and political culture through the independence movement and post-independence decades. When the Mathrubhumi Group decided to launch a literary festival in 2018, it was extending its identity as a literary institution from print into live public programming.
The choice of Thiruvananthapuram as the venue reflects the capital city's role as Kerala's political and cultural centre, and Kanakakkunnu Palace, a heritage property with a large garden auditorium, provides a setting that combines governmental and artistic dignity. MBIFL was conceived from the start as a genuinely international event, with speakers from across the world contributing alongside Indian and Malayalam writers.
The festival's annual themes give it a distinctive intellectual identity. Where many literary festivals present a collection of individual sessions without a governing idea, MBIFL's themes create a curatorial coherence: in 2023, 'Shadows of History, Lights of the Future' organised conversations around historical memory and the knowledge needed for contemporary challenges; in 2025, 'Currents of Change' addressed the acceleration of transformation in culture, politics, and technology.
By its 6th edition in 2025, MBIFL had attracted over 400 speakers per edition, establishing it as one of the largest literary gatherings in south India by speaker count. The festival's Malayalam-language programming dimension, connecting the state's literary tradition to international conversations, reflects Mathrubhumi's own identity as a Malayalam media institution that has always sought to situate its readers within a larger world.
MBIFL fills a structural gap in India's literary festival map. The Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode, which has grown to enormous scale, is the other significant Kerala literary event. MBIFL, anchored in the state capital and organised by a media group with a century of relationship to Kerala's intellectual life, has a different character: more institutionally organised, more thematically coherent, more directly connected to Mathrubhumi's own editorial and literary traditions. Kerala's reading culture, among the highest literacy rates and book consumption per capita in India, provides a natural audience for a serious literary festival in the state capital.
MBIFL represents the most sophisticated extension of Indian print media into live cultural programming. Its annual themes give it an intellectual coherence unusual among Indian literary festivals, and its Malayalam-language grounding connects one of India's most literate states to global literary conversations.
Established south India's largest thematically curated literary festival. Created a model for media organisations extending their editorial identity into live programming. Provided Thiruvananthapuram with a flagship literary event at a heritage venue.
