The Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) is a free, three-day festival of talks, readings, debates and book launches held each February at the Alhamra Arts Centre on the Mall. The 14th edition ran from 6 to 8 February 2026, with more than 60 sessions and speakers from 15 countries, and as the festival itself says, it is "free and open to all". You walk in, pick sessions from the programme and queue for the popular halls.
This guide covers when it happens, how a day there works, which sessions fill first, and how to plan a February trip around it.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Alhamra Arts Centre, the Mall (Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam), Lahore |
| Usual month | February, over a Friday to Sunday weekend |
| 2026 edition | 14th, 6 to 8 February 2026 |
| 2025 edition | 13th, 21 to 23 February 2025 |
| Entry | Free |
| Programme | 60+ sessions in parallel halls, mostly in English, plus Urdu, Punjabi and Seraiki |
| Founded | 2013, by Razi Ahmed |
When is the Lahore Literary Festival?
LLF is held in February, but the weekend moves from year to year. The first festival, in 2013, ran over two days, 23 and 24 February. Since then it has usually run for three days: 21 to 23 February in 2014, 20 to 22 February in 2015, 21 to 23 February in 2025, and an earlier 6 to 8 February in 2026.
The 2027 dates had not been announced when this was written. They normally appear on the festival's website, lahorelitfest.org, and its social media a few weeks ahead, together with the downloadable programme. Do not book travel around last year's weekend.
In 2026 the festival weekend coincided with Lahore's revived Basant, which also ran from 6 to 8 February. If the two fall together again, expect busier roads and book your hotel early. Our guide to Basant in Lahore covers the kite festival and its rules.
What is the festival like?
Sessions run in parallel across Alhamra's halls from early afternoon on the opening day and through the weekend. In 2026 the opening ceremony was at 2 pm in Hall 1, followed by a keynote on Alexander the Great by the Oxford historian Robin Lane Fox. The programme then ran to more than 60 sessions on history, politics, diplomacy, heritage, film, the arts and literature, plus 12 special sessions on Urdu and Punjabi language and literature.
Named guests in 2026 included the Egyptologist Salima Ikram, the Australian writer on geopolitics Michael Pembroke, the novelists Mohsin Hamid and Kamila Shamsie, and newer Pakistani writers such as Aisha Hassan. Over the years the festival has also hosted Romila Thapar, Orhan Pamuk, Ayesha Jalal, Naseeruddin Shah, Asma Jahangir and Malala Yousafzai.
A typical session is a conversation or panel of about an hour, with questions at the end. Some sessions are book launches, some are poetry readings, and a few are film screenings.
How busy does it get?
Very. The 2015 edition was reported to have drawn more than 75,000 visitors to the Alhamra grounds over the weekend. The halls are much smaller than the crowd:
| Hall | Seats |
|---|---|
| Main auditorium (1979) | About 1,000 |
| Hexagonal theatre (1985) | About 450 |
| Octagonal lecture hall (1992) | About 250 |
That is why sessions with well-known names fill and close their doors before the start, while a specialist panel in another hall at the same hour may still have seats.
How to attend
- Download the programme from the festival website when it is released and mark the two or three sessions you most want to see.
- Check which hall each one is in. A session in the 250-seat hall needs a much earlier arrival than one in the main auditorium.
- Arrive 30 to 45 minutes early for headline names, and plan your day around them, filling the gaps with smaller sessions.
- Do not plan back-to-back sessions in different halls for big names. Doors close when a hall is full, and the walk and queue between halls take time.
- Carry your CNIC and keep bags small, since large public events in Lahore usually have security checks at the entrance.
The festival has always been free, and we found no requirement to register in advance. If that changes for a future edition, the festival website is where it will appear.
The venue: Alhamra Arts Centre
Alhamra is Lahore's main public arts complex, on the Mall in the centre of the city. It was designed by the architect Nayyar Ali Dada in red brick, built in stages from 1979 to 1992, and won an Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1998.
Our Alhamra Arts Council guide covers the complex and what is on there the rest of the year.
Getting there, eating and staying
The Mall is easy to reach by ride-hailing app or taxi from most of Lahore. Parking near Alhamra fills quickly once sessions start, so a drop-off saves time, and you should allow extra for the Mall's weekend traffic.
There are cafes and restaurants within a short drive along the Mall, and Gulberg's restaurants are further south if you want a proper meal after the last session. Take water and a snack for long queues.
If you are coming from another city, stay somewhere with an easy run to the Mall. Our where to stay in Lahore guide compares the areas, and our Lahore itinerary shows how to fit the Walled City and the Fort around a festival weekend. February is usually one of Lahore's more comfortable months; our Lahore weather guide has the detail.
The festival beyond Lahore
LLF has also run ticketed editions in New York with the Asia Society and in London with the British Library, which paused during the pandemic, and in 2021 the Lahore festival itself went online with guests including Yann Martel, Fareed Zakaria and Wendy Doniger. Lahore joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Literature in 2019, less than a year after the head of Heidelberg's City of Literature office spoke at the festival about Lahore's case.
If you like literary festivals, February and March are busy in Pakistan. The Faiz Festival was held at Alhamra the following weekend in 2026, from 13 to 15 February, and our guides to the Faiz Festival, the Karachi Literature Festival and the Islamabad Literature Festival cover the others.
Who should go?
LLF suits readers, students and anyone curious about history, politics and ideas. The sessions are substantial and reward people willing to sit through an hour of conversation, often in English.
It suits less well young children, since the programme is talks rather than activities, and visitors with only one day in Lahore who would rather see the Walled City and the Fort. If literature and public debate interest you, it is worth building a February weekend around once the dates are out, and our trip planning page can help.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Lahore Literary Festival free to attend?
Yes. The festival describes itself as free and open to all. Popular sessions fill up, so arrive early for anything you particularly want to see.
When is the Lahore Literary Festival held?
In February, over a three-day weekend. The 2026 edition ran from 6 to 8 February and the 2025 edition from 21 to 23 February. The 2027 dates had not been announced when this was written.
Where is the Lahore Literary Festival held?
At the Alhamra Arts Centre on the Mall in central Lahore, with sessions running in parallel across its halls.
Do I need to register or book sessions?
We found no advance registration requirement; seats are first come, first served. Check the festival website for the current year in case that changes.
What languages are the sessions in?
Most sessions are in English. There is also a strand in Urdu and Punjabi, with 12 such sessions in 2026, and some sessions in Seraiki.
Is the festival suitable for children?
It is aimed at adults and older students, since the programme is entirely talks and panel discussions.
