What is the event?
This year, on April 3 and 4, 2026, we will be holding a literary festival for modern Tamil literature called Living Tamil at the New York Academy of Medicine venue in New York City. (https://nyam.org/)
It is coordinated by the Vishnupuram Literary Circle, USA. (https://vishnupuramusa.org/)
This is the first time that such a festival is being held in the United States from any language of India.
Our website
https://livingtamillitfest.
What kind of festival is it?
This is an intellectual festival where only literature is discussed. There is no place for art or entertainment. A festival of international standards
This is a festival that presents only literature. There is no place for any kind of politics in it. The event is a festival where only literary figures take the stage.
Why this literary festival?
Nearly a hundred million Tamils live in Tamil Nadu. There are 30 million Tamils outside Tamil Nadu. There are approximately one million Tamils in America. Today, America is the centre of world thought and literature. Why don’t we Tamils have a place in that intellectual centre? Tamil is one of the oldest languages in the world. It is the language in which excellent modern literary works also continue to emerge. Why can’t we present ourselves before the world?
If we want to put ourselves before the world, we need good translations. We need to put our writers before the eyes of the world. We need to find translators, editors, and readers from among the children of the diaspora.
With that in mind, the Vishnupuram Literary Circle, USA, has decided to hold a Modern Tamil Literature Conference in New York City, the center of American thought and literature.
What are we going to do?
This festival is a serious literary event, like the LitFests that the Vishnupuram Literary Circle usually organizes. Only registered literary enthusiasts will participate in it.
30 literary figures from Tamil Nadu will participate in it. All of them will be introduced there in a proper manner. A detailed introduction will be prepared for them.
The stories of the participating authors will be translated and published there as three collections. Translations of other Tamil works will also be available.
Prominent American literary figures, American literary critics, and literary agents in the United States will participate in this event. Fifteen personalities have signed up to participate in this event.
The entire event will take place in English. The younger generation born in the United States will coordinate this event.
What do we expect?
Introducing a Tamil writer to the United States means introducing the entire world. The introduction that is available in the United States is valuable in India as well. Once published in America, Jayamohan’s works undergo translations into German, Italian, Swedish, and French.
Through this introduction, the message that there are so many important writers in Tamil will reach the world. Their works will be published, and that will be the beginning. A place will be created for modern Tamil literature.
Tamil children and Indian children born in America know only English. We are introducing them to their culture and literature through this. It will create a connection for them with their roots. By engaging with them, our culture and literature will spread to America.
We can claim a place within the educational and cultural sphere of America. Achieving a place in the intellectual sphere of a country like America requires serious intellectual literature, rather than popular writing and simple politics.
What has happened so far?
The festival will be held in three venues in the center of New York City on April 2 and 3. The main venue for the festival is located in the center of New York City..
Visas have been obtained for 30 Tamil writers. Airfares are being booked.
Travel and accommodation arrangements are being made for American writers.
With love
Jayamohan
9443314600
A. Muthulingam (Canada)
V. Soundarrajan (USA)
