10 Incredible Festivals From India to Catch in 2024

They are here, they are beautiful and they are more colourful than ever – Festivals From India that will make you groove, move your body, open your mind and make memories to last a lifetime. Get your travel boots on and visit these 10 destinations for some of the best festivals across music, literature, multi arts and folk arts steeped in the magic of India.

Kerala Literature Festival

When it comes to literature festivals in India, imagine listening to the immortal words and thoughts of  Nobel laureates, Booker Prize winners and literary luminaries on the beaches in Kozhikode. Kerala Literature Festival – India’ second largest festival by footfall – celebrates the written word in the most literate State of India. Renowned Writer, Prof. K Satchidanandan is the Festival Director. Spanning across four days, in 6 venues at the Kozhikode beach thronged by over half a million attendees, the Festival will feature 400+ global speakers. Turkey is the guest country of honour, and will feature their literature and art forms. Apart from this, the UK, Wales, Spain, Japan, USA, Malaysia, Spain, France will be the other participating countries. Festival authors and speakers include the likes of Arundhati Roy, Mallika Sarabhai, Shashi Tharoor, Piyush Pandey,  Prahlad Kakkar, William Dalrymple, Gurucharan Das, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Catherine Ann Jones, Monika Halan, Durjoy Dutta, Manu S Pillai. The festival will also host concerts by TM Krishna and Vikku Vinayakram; Surbahar and Sitar concert by Padmabhushan Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee.

Bonus tip: Kozhikode was picked as the first ‘City of Literature’ in India  by UNESCO in Nov 2023. Catch book walks, related literature events and celebrate the city as you visit the festival.

Where: Kozhikode, Kerala
When: 11-14 January, 2024
More Info:
Festival Organiser: DC Kizhakemuri Foundation
Festival schedule
Book your tickets

Lollapalooza

There was much excitement in 2023 when global music phenomenon Lollapalooza India hit Mumbai as its 8th city and an Asia-first edition. In 2024, it returns with its second edition with over 35 artists from India and across the globe all set to play at 4 stages. Featured musicians include Sting, Jonas Brothers, One Republic, Keane, Halsey, Lauv, Anoushka Shankar, Jatayu, Raghu Dixit Project, Fatoumata Diawara, Prabh Deep and many more. This music carnival has four music stages – two featuring bigger acts and a more global sound, and one each for high-energy electronic music and indie music – spread across the massive Mahalaxmi Race course in Mumbai are surrounded by art installations, a large food park for the attendees, a merch stall and even a Ferris wheel. Special trains, buses, well designed signages, gender neutral toilets, excellent traffic management, medical facilities and traffic coordination with authorities makes this one of the most well-organised festivals in India.

Where: Mumbai, Maharashtra
When: 27 & 28 January 2024
More Info:
Festival Organiser: BookMyShow
Book your tickets

Kolkata – the city of Literature Festivals

We could have picked one, but we are greedy because the city of joy offers so much! International Kolkata Book Fair is from 18 to 31 January 2024 at Central Park in Salt Lake, Kolkata Literature Festival as part of the book fair from 26- 28 January, Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet  (Kalam) is from 23 to 27 January 2024 at the gorgeous Victoria Memorial Hall, and Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival from 9 to 11 February 2024. Some of these festivals also feature a children’s edition such as the Junior Kolkata Literary Meet (JKLM). The International Kolkata Book Fair will have 1000+ stalls of books to pick from, UK as a guest country for the 2024 edition with participants from Germany, the US, France, Italy, Spain, Thailand, Australia, Bangladesh, Peru, Argentina and Colombia. Besides national and international publishers, booksellers from several states, including UP, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, will be attending the book fair. Alongside the book fair, the Kolkata Literature Festival will be held where writers, poets, columnists and politicians will deliberate on different issues from January 26 to 28. A record 26 lakh book lovers visited the fair last year. And finally the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival organised by the iconic Oxford Bookstore features discussions with over 50 authors, poets, journalists, artists, athletes and other creative minds from Kolkata, India and the world. Writers Anand Neelakantan, Ben Okri, Ravinder Singh and Durjoy Datta, filmmakers Aparna Sen and Vishal Bhardwaj and actors Saurabh Shukla and Aamir Khan have been part of the festival over the years.

Where: Kolkata, West Bengal
More Info:
Festival schedule: Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, International Kolkata Book Fair, Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (To be Announced)
Festival Organiser: Gameplan Sports (Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet), Publishers & Booksellers Guild (International Kolkata Book Fair and Kolkata Literature Festival), and Oxford Bookstore (Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival) 

Mahindra all the way – Handicrafts, Percussion and Blues

Mahindra is one of the few brands so deeply invested in the cultural festival circuit. Our little birdie knows that Jay Shah, Vice President – Cultural Outreach, at Mahindra & Mahindra is a certified arts lover and holds immense belief in the arts to create value. Mahindra Sanatkada Lucknow Festival  – a multi-arts festival in the heart of Lucknow features an massive exhibition and sale of handicrafts by artisans from across the region and India, talks, workshops, walking tours, book launches, exhibitions, film screenings and cultural performances. The annual two-day music festival Mahindra Blues features some of the genre’s biggest and best acts from across the globe and India. Now in its 10th edition, the 2024 line-up celebrates the women in Blues – Beth Hart, Dana Fuchs, Tipriti Kharbangar, Sheryl Youngblood, Vanessa Collier and Samantha Fish.  And finally, Mahindra Percussion Festival (17-18 February 2024) is a vibrant celebration of rhythm with music, food, festivity in the mix in Bengaluru.

Where: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh; Mumbai, Maharashtra; and Bengaluru, Karnata
More Info
Festival Organiser: Hyperlink Brand Solutions (Blues and Percussion) and Sanatkada Trust (Mahindra Sanatkada Lucknow Festival)

SPOKEN Fest

Words, voices and stories of the young, from different tongues but with a heart for art. SPOKEN is a celebration of words, voices and stories. A multi-stage performing arts festival, Spoken is a two-day feelings fiesta. Expect to feel everything from laughter, tears, awe, thoughtfulness and most importantly, togetherness replete with music, theatre, poetry and stories. The 2024 edition will feature Vishal & Rekha Bharadwaj, Varun Grover, Nikita Gill, Rahagir, Amol Parashar, Gurleen Pannu, Dolly Singh, Swanand Kirkire and a host of young and upcoming spoken word artists, writers and musicians from across India. With four stages – mehfil, Modern Voices, Guftagu and Virasat, Spoken explores varied textures and memories of words.

Where: Mumbai, Maharashtra 
When: 03 & 04 February 2024
More Info:
Festival Organiser: Kommune
Festival line-up
Book your tickets

Ziro Festival of Music

Held amidst the spectacular Ziro Valley in September, this four-day annual festival is hosted by the local Apatani tribe, known for their closeness to nature. With an infrastructure built almost entirely of locally-sourced bamboo and a strong emphasis on eco-friendly practices, Ziro Festival of Music is a one-of-its-kind event. The carefully-curated line-up brings together over 40 of the best independent music acts from across the region, country and world. Past editions of the festival have included performances by rock acts Lee Ranaldo and the Dust, Lou Majaw, menwhopause and MONO, blues group Soulmate, jazz artist Nubya Garcia, Indian classical musician Jyoti Hegde, qawwali musician Shye Ben-Tzur and singer-songwriters Lucky Ali and Prateek Kuhad. Since its launch in 2012, the festival has grown exponentially to attract a loyal and globe-trotting crowd. It has also been a key player in driving tourism to Arunachal Pradesh and is currently the largest non-pilgrimage, tourist-drawing event in the state. 

Where: Ziro Valley, Arunachal Pradesh
When: September 2024
More Info:
Festival Organiser: Phoenix Rising LLP
Festival line-up and tickets: TB Announced.

Hornbill Festival

The 10-day Hornbill Festival celebrates Nagaland’s rich cultural heritage and traditions in all their glory. This “festival of festivals” offers a peek into the cultural diversity of not only the Naga people, but all the north-eastern states of India. Experience cultural performances by Naga tribes, adventure sports like mountain-biking, day-hikes through the Dzukou Valley, food stalls that showcase local cuisine and include competitive eating events such as the “Naga King Chilly & Pineapple Eating Competition”, art and craft exhibitions. Indigenous handicrafts, games and sports are also featured in the ten-day cultural celebration. Other events that have been featured at the festival include World War II rallies, rock concerts, and a “Bamboo Carnival”. Some of the musical acts that have performed at previous editions of the festival include Temsu Clover and Band, Nagaland Collective, Run Monday Run, Cotton Country and Fifth Note. 

Where: Kohima, Nagaland
When: Early December 2024
More Info:
Festival Organiser: Nagaland Tourism and Government of Nagaland
Festival line-up and tickets: To be announced. Check www.festivalsfromindia.com for updates

Jodhpur RIFF

The Jodhpur RIFF (Rajasthan International Folk Festival) is “India’s premiere international roots music festival of folk, indigenous, jazz, reggae, classical and world music”. It takes place every October around Sharad Poornima, the night of the brightest full moon in north India, in the intimate setting of the spectacular fifteenth-century Mehrangarh Fort. Annually featuring more than 350 young and legendary musicians from Rajasthan, India and the world, the festival is a mix of free and ticketed daytime concerts and club nights, held from dawn to dawn. Among the several stalwarts to have played at the festival include Lakha Khan, Vikku Vinayakram, Shubha Mudgal, Manu Chao, Wouter Kellerman and Jeff Lang. Maharaja Gaj Singh II of Marwar-Jodhpur is Chief Patron and rock royalty Mick Jagger is International Patron of Jodhpur Rajasthan International Folk Festival, which takes place under the aegis of the Mehrangarh Museum Trust.

Where: Jodhpur, Rajasthan
When: October 2024
More info:
Festival Organiser: Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur.
Festival line-up and tickets: Check www.festivalsfromindia.com for updates

Serendipity Arts Festival

From its launch in 2016, the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa has evolved into one of the largest annual interdisciplinary cultural extravaganzas in South Asia. A panel of 14 curators selects the events and experiences, which are presented over eight days in December. Covering the fields of culinary, performing and visual arts, they’re hosted at venues across the city of Panjim. The sites range from heritage buildings and public parks to museums and riverboats. Over the years, the curators have included ceramic artist Kristine Michael for craft; chef Rahul Akerkar for culinary arts; bharatanatyam exponent Leela Samson for dance; Hindustani classical composers and performers Aneesh Pradhan and Shubha Mudgal for music; lensman Ravi Agarwal for photography; actress Arundhati Nag for theatre; and cultural historian Jyotindra Jain for visual arts. Spread over several venues across Goa, Serendipity Arts Festival is an example of how to create a high-quality, free, accessible festival for everyone from a child to an aesthete, with mixed-used spaces, adapting heritage venues, featuring excellent curation across genres and at a scale that takes enormous vision to create and produce.

Hot tip: Our team produced an impact analysis report of the festival featured here.

Where: Goa
When: Mid-December 2024
More Info:
Festival Organiser: Serendipity Arts Foundation

____

Festival line-up and tickets: To be announced. Check www.festivalsfromindia.com for updates

Visual Arts Festivals From India

This was a tricky one. Normally we would recommend the public biennale Kochi Muziris Biennale (KMB) in a heartbeat, but for the poor festival management practices (“always scrambling to get things up in time” as Girish Shahne wrote in Scroll.in) that led to last-minute delays and lack of communication in the 2022 edition of the Biennale we are hesitant to suggest the KMB 2024. The other big events are the art fairs – India Art Fair, Delhi Art Week, Mumbai Gallery Weekend, and the recently concluded Art Mumbai – which have fantastic art but are largely marketplaces in Delhi and Mumbai. So we’ll go out on a limb here and ask you to look at the many fantastic city-led art events ranging from Bihar Museum Biennale in Bihar, to Art is Life in Bengaluru to Behala Art Fest and AF Weekender in Kolkata.  Check out our Visual Arts page for the latest in visual arts.

Festivals to look out for: Mumbai Gallery Weekend (11-14 January 2024), India Art Fair (1-4 feb 2024), and Art Mumbai (November 2024)

Rashmi Dhanwani is the Founder of Festivals From India and the Art X Company.

For more articles on festivals in India, check out our Read section of this website.