Galle Literary Festival

2025 Speakers

Nihal Arthanayake
Speaker

Michael Attenborough CBE
Speaker

Ravinder Bhogal
Speaker

Ryan Chetiyawardana
Speaker

Channa Daswatte
Speaker

Saraid de Silva
Speaker

Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne
Speaker

Saba Douglas-Hamilton
Speaker

Jenny Erpenbeck
Speaker

Dom Fernando
Speaker

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera
Speaker

Peter Frankopan
Speaker

V V Ganeshananthan
Speaker

Peter Godwin
Speaker

Manori Gunawardena 
Speaker

Romesh Gunesekera
Speaker

Radhika Hettirarachchi
Speaker

Afua Hirsch
Speaker

Michael Hofmann
Speaker

Ameena Hussein
Speaker

Saritha Irugalbandara
Speaker

Jeyakantha Janu
Speaker

Sunela Jayewardene
Speaker

Ramya Jirasinghe
Speaker

Susan Jung
Speaker

Maduranga Kalugampitiya
Speaker

Dr Naazima Kamardeen
Speaker

Catherine Karnow
Speaker

Lalith Karunatilaka
Speaker

Adrien Krause
Speaker

Simon Lister
Speaker

Helen Macdonald
Speaker

Ben Macintyre
Speaker

Aanchal Malhotra
Speaker

Rashmika Mandawala
Speaker

Sharanya Manivannan
Speaker

Tasha Marikkar 
Speaker

Louise Minchin
Speaker

Greg Mosse
Speaker

Kate Mosse CBE
Speaker

Vidusha Nathavitharana
Speaker

Dr Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
Speaker

Dr Eithne Nightingale
Speaker

Andi Oliver
Speaker

Miquita Oliver
Speaker

Simon Parker
Speaker

Devdutt Pattanaik
Speaker

Johann Peiris
Speaker

Sashi Perera
Speaker

Shiromi Pinto
Speaker

Aube Rey Lescure
Speaker

Dr Adam Rutherford
Speaker

Razeen Sally
Speaker

Philippe Sands 
Speaker

Sathnam Sanghera
Speaker

Shyam Selvadurai
Speaker

Shyala Smith
Speaker

Mylvaganam Thilakarajah
Speaker

Nicholas Thomas
Speaker

Shamji Vankar Vishram Valji
Speaker

Justin Whyte
Speaker

Pathum Wickramarathne
Speaker
 

Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
Speaker

Hajra Williams
Speaker

Festival Moderators

Amita Arudpragasam
Moderator

Artika Bakshi
Moderator

Kiran Dass
Moderator

Dr Asoka de Zoysa
Moderator

Anisha Dias Bandaranaike
Moderator

Rahul Jacob
Moderator

Georgina Godwin
Moderator

Kalpanee Gunawardana
Moderator

Tracy Holsinger
Moderator

Azara Jaleel
Moderator

Curtis Jobe
Moderator

Mangala Karunaratne
Moderator

Jill Macdonald
Moderator

Ram Manikkalingam
Moderator

Vikrom Mathur
Moderator

Dilin Peiris
Moderator

Frank Pope
Moderator

Savithri Rodrigo
Moderator

Selva Sandrapragas
Moderator

Hen Tatham
Moderator

Julia Wheeler
Moderator

Anushka Wijesinha
Moderator

Ghazaleh Zogheib
Moderator

Artists

Gihan de Chickera
Artist

Ali Kazim
Artist

Johann Latiff
Artist

Tayeba Begum Lipi
Artist

Kesara Ratnavibhushana 
Artist

French Cowboy 
Artist

Kopalapillai Mathiskumar
Artist

Nishan Perera
Artist

Anoli Perera 
Artist

Koralegedara Pushpakumara
Artist

Rajani Serasinghe
Artist

Anushka Wijesinha
Artist

Street of Colombo
Artist

Hosts

Mads Berg
Host

The Ceylon Artisan Tea Association 
Host

The Crescent Ladies Welfare Association 
Host

Yasiru Epsa
Host

Devni Jayakody
Host

Nadeesha Paulis
Host

Marguerite Richards
Host

Sri Yoga Shala
Host

Performers

The Chamber Music Society of Colombo
Performer

Lakshman Joseph-de Saram
Performer

Niro
Performer

The Sunera Foundation
Performer

Taniya Lewwanduwage
Performer

Children's Festival

Shanya Perera
Host

Vehara Abeygunawardena
Host

Clown Compass
Host

Chris Devonshire
Host

Irushi Tennekoon
Host

Tehani Chitty
Host

Tracy Jayasinghe
Host

Shazad Synon
Host

2024 Speakers

Nayomi Apsara
Nihal Arthanayake
Afdhel Aziz
Mary Beard
Simon Bell
Jaspinder Bilan
Sam Bleakley
Tom Parker Bowles
Nicholas Brooks
Miguel Cunat
Chevaan Daniel
Channa Daswatte
Megan Dhakshini
Tishani Doshi
Sachi Ediriweera
Nizrana Farook
Sebastian Faulks
Peter Frankopan
A.C. Grayling
Fabienne Francotte
Ella Frears
Karan Gokani
Guy Gunaratne
Kanishka Gupta
Romesh Gunasekera
Amanthi Harris
Will Harris
Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Anthony Horowitz
Ameena Hussein
Amanda Jayatissa
Manu Joseph
Sunela Jayewardene
Chamintha Jayasinghe
Balli Jaswal
Shehan Karunatilaka
Radha Kumar
Christina Lamb
Jeremy Lee
Andrew Lownie
Isurinie Anuradha Mallawaarachchi
Neloufer de Mel
Nayomi Munaweera
Moni Mohsin
Nujeen Mustafa
Janice Pariat
Johann Peiris
Lahiru Perera
Sam Perera
Chalana Perera
DBC Pierre
Sumith Pilapitiya
Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa
Anya Ratnayaka
Chiranthi Rajapakse
Marguerite Richards
Jacqueline Samarasinghe
Simon Schama
Randhula de Silva
Sujit Sivasundaram
Cynthia Shanmugalingam
Alexander McCall Smith
Chhimi Tendulf
Irushi Tennekoon
Jagath Weerasinghe
Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne
Anoma Wijewardene
Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

Moderators

Artika Bakshi
Andrew Fidel Fernando
Niki Gomez
Chanchala Gunewardena
Kalpanee Gunawardana
Sandra Hill
Azara Jaleel
Thirangie Jayatilake
Curtis Jobe
Vinod Malwatte
Savithri Rodrigo
Vidusha Nathavitharana
Yanik Tissera
Shalini Wickramasuriya
Pramodha Weerasekera
Hen Tatham
Jill Macdonald
Julia Wheeler
Leandro Filippin
Tracy Holsinger

Hosts

Tasmin Anthonisz
Nadishka Aloysius
Tharanga Liyana Arachchi
Tehani Chitty
Geraldine Coates
Sulochana Dissanayake
Emily Dobbs
Charles Uzzell Edwards
Shimali Perera
Saheedullah Saheed
StoryLandSL
Neha Tennekoon
The International Centre for Ethnic Studies
Jude
Omaya
Sri Yoga Shala

Performers

Misfit Souls
The Chamber Music Society of Colombo
The Muslim Choral Ensemble
The Sunera Foundation
Stages Theatre Group