Colombo Literary Festival · Book Sale
A hand-picked shelf of voices from across South Asia and beyond — festival editions, signed copies and translations you won't find on any ordinary bookstore table.
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor presents the life and achievements of B. R. Ambedkar with admiration and insight. He traces Ambedkar's journey from his birth into a Mahar family in 1891 to his death in 1956, highlighting the discrimination and challenges he faced because of caste. Despite these obstacles, Ambedkar excelled as a scholar, reformer and political leader. Tharoor discusses his campaign against untouchability, his debates with leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, and his crucial role in drafting India's Constitution — portraying Ambedkar as a visionary whose ideas on equality, justice and individual rights transformed India and continue to inspire generations today.
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor presents the life and achievements of B. R. Ambedkar with admiration and insight. He traces Ambedkar's journey from his birth into a Mahar family in 1891 to his death in 1956, highlighting the discrimination and challenges he faced because of caste. Despite these obstacles, Ambedkar excelled as a scholar, reformer and political leader. Tharoor discusses his campaign against untouchability, his debates with leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, and his crucial role in drafting India's Constitution — portraying Ambedkar as a visionary whose ideas on equality, justice and individual rights transformed India and continue to inspire generations today.
Shashi Tharoor
In this book the authors offer practical wisdom for navigating modern life. Through a collection of concise, thought-provoking aphorisms, they explore ways to achieve professional success, strengthen relationships, overcome self-doubt and deal with feelings of frustration and insecurity. Drawing on one of the oldest forms of literary expression, the authors present insights that are both timeless and relevant to contemporary challenges. Filled with wit, clarity and reflection, the book encourages readers to unlock their potential, embrace personal growth and lead more meaningful, fulfilling lives.
Shashi Tharoor
Born in 1855 into a modest Ezhava family in Travancore (present-day Kerala), Sree Narayana Guru overcame the social barriers of an untouchable caste to become a revered spiritual leader and visionary social reformer. He challenged the rigid caste hierarchy that oppressed millions and dedicated his life to promoting equality, education and social justice — establishing temples that welcomed people of all castes, founding schools and encouraging self-respect among the lower castes. His efforts played a crucial role in transforming Kerala into a more progressive, secular and egalitarian society.
Shashi Tharoor
Why I Am a Hindu explores Hinduism through personal reflection and intellectual analysis. The author examines core philosophical traditions such as Advaita Vedanta and Bhakti, and concepts like the Purusharthas. He discusses key figures including Adi Shankara, Patanjali, Ramanuja, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, highlighting their influence on Hindu thought. The book also explains the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and critically assesses political Hinduism, including Hindutva ideology — warning against religious extremism while emphasising India's pluralistic foundations and the importance of tolerance in sustaining its secular democratic identity.
Shashi Tharoor
A critical study of Narendra Modi and his impact on India. It examines the tension between his public image of inclusive governance — expressed through slogans like “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” and reverence for the Constitution — and accusations of encouraging or overlooking illiberal forces and social polarisation. Structured in five sections and fifty chapters, it traces Modi's early life, political rise and time in office, then analyses his influence on institutions, society, the economy, foreign policy and democratic values through detailed observation and political analysis.
Shashi Tharoor
The Hindu Way: An Introduction to Hinduism presents Hinduism as a plural, adaptable tradition spanning philosophy, rituals, deities, scriptures and practices. It emphasises the religion's diversity of schools of thought and its lack of rigid authority structures, highlighting themes of individual spiritual choice, intellectual inquiry and tolerance for multiple paths to truth. Drawing on Shashi Tharoor's essays, it situates Hinduism as historically resilient and suited to modern, networked societies — with rich illustrations complementing an accessible overview of its enduring relevance.
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor's An Era of Darkness examines British colonial rule in India, arguing it caused severe economic exploitation, political manipulation and human suffering. The book traces the rise of the East India Company, its victory at Plassey and its gradual takeover of revenue and administration, followed by Crown rule after 1857. Tharoor highlights famines, violence and deindustrialisation, and critiques claims that Britain brought benefits like railways, democracy and the rule of law — arguing these primarily served imperial interests rather than Indian welfare.
Shashi Tharoor
Our Living Constitution examines India's Constitution as the foundation of democracy, explaining its history, structure and guiding principles. It discusses the Preamble, the separation of powers among legislature, executive and judiciary, and the protection of fundamental rights. The book highlights the vision of civic nationalism that shaped the Constitution — emphasising pluralism, liberalism and tolerance — while exploring challenges from sectarianism and illiberalism. Through accessible analysis, Tharoor argues that vigilance by citizens is essential to preserve India's democratic ideals.
Shashi Tharoor
India Shastra examines India's rapid transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, highlighting sweeping changes in politics, economy, foreign policy, media, governance and civil rights. It notes economic revival, stronger global positioning and optimism among youth, while raising serious concerns about majoritarianism, religious intolerance and shrinking space for dissent. The text reflects on persistent issues such as corruption, inequality and poverty, questioning whether India's developmental ambitions are overshadowing basic social needs like literacy, healthcare and housing.
Shashi Tharoor
A Wonderland of Words explores the English language as a vibrant, evolving system filled with creativity and complexity. It examines punctuation, grammar, spelling, acronyms, contronyms, oxymorons, kennings, metaphors, idioms, euphemisms and palindromes, and traces the history and evolution of English, its global variants and common misuse. Tharoor highlights literary brilliance and humorous examples that reveal both beauty and absurdity in everyday language — ultimately celebrating English as a living, playful and expressive medium that connects people and ideas worldwide.
M. D. Raghavan
සිංහල සමාජ ක්රමයේ ප්රධාන අංගයක් පිළිබඳව සිදු කළ ප්රථම පූර්ණ අධ්යයනය වන එම්. ඩී. රාඝවන් ගේ මෙම නිබන්ධනය, ලංකාවේ මානව විද්යාත්මක පර්යේෂණ ක්ෂේත්රයේ වැදගත් ඉදිරි පියවරක් සනිටුහන් කරයි.
Ananda Amarasiri
පූර්ව විප්ලව යුගයේ රුසියානු සාහිත්යයේ සදාතනික වටිනාකම අගයමින්, ජෝර්ජ් ස්ටයිනර් සඳහන් කළේ එය බටහිර සාහිත්යයේ ප්රධානතම අවස්ථා තුනෙන් එකක් ලෙසට ය. අනෙක් අවස්ථා දෙක වන්නේ ග්රීක සාහිත්යය මල් පල දැරූ යුගය හා එංගලන්තයේ ශේක්ස්පියර් නාට්ය ලියූ යුගය යි.
Lakshantha Athukorala
නාට්ය, චිත්රපටය, කවිය, නවකතාව, චිත්රය, ගීතය යනාදී ඕනෑම කලාත්මක හෝ සෞන්දර්යාත්මක විෂයයක් පිළිබඳව මෙන්ම සමාජ යුක්තිය, සමානාත්මතාව, යුද්ධයේ බියකරු බව, සාමයේ වටිනාකම, අනන්ය ස්ත්රී අයිතීන් සහ පොදුවේ අනූපමේය මනුෂ්යත්වය පිළිබඳව ද එකවර එක තැනකදී කියවීමට ඔබට අවශ්ය නම් ලක්ෂාන්තගේ මෙම කෘතිය කියවන්න.
Rabindranath Tagore
රවීන්ද්රනාත් තාගෝර් විසින් රචිත The Wreck (මුල් කෘතිය බෙංගාලි භාෂාවෙන් “Naukadubi”) යනු දෛවයේ සරදම් සහ මානුෂීය සබඳතාවල අස්ථිර බවත් සංකීර්ණත්වයත් නිරූපණය කරන සම්භාව්ය නවකතාවකි.
Leo Tolstoy
හෙන්රි ට්රොයාට් විසින් ටෝල්ස්ටෝයි පිළිබඳව පළ කරන ලද අපදාන කථාවෙහි සඳහන් කරන අන්දමට, Resurrection නම් මෙම නවකථාව සත්ය සිද්ධියක් පාදක කොට ගෙන නිර්මාණය වූවකි.
Ivan Goncharov
මෙම නවකතාවේ බලය ගැබ් වනුයේ විඥානවාදයටත් භාවාතිශය වාදයටත් එරෙහිව දක්වන ලද තියුණු ප්රතිරෝධයෙහි ය. කන්යාවන් ගැනත් සඳමඬල ගැනත් වෙනත් රොමැන්තිකවාදී විකාර ගැනත් ආහ්ලාදයෙන් ගැඹුරු ලෙස හුස්ම ඇද ගැනීම සෑම දෙනාටම එපා වී තිබූ හෙයින් මෙම නවකතාව කියවීම නැවුම් අත්දැකීමකි.
John Steinbeck
ආක්රමණික හමුදාවක පැමිණීම හේතුවෙන් පුදුමයට පත් වූ කුඩා, ස්කැන්ඩිනේවියානු වෙරළබඩ නගරයකි. ඊට දක්වන්නේ සුළු ප්රතිරෝධයක් පමණි. ආක්රමණිකයන් හට එම නගරය වැදගත් වන්නේ එහි විශාල ගල්අඟුරු පතලක් හා ඊට යාබදව වරායක් ද වූ බැවිනි. ආක්රමණික බළඇණියේ ප්රධානියා වන කර්නල් ලාන්සර්, සිය කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය සමඟ එම නගරයට පිවිසෙයි.
Sunil Wijesiriwardhana
සෝවියට් නූතනත්ව ව්යාපෘතියේ මානවීය සහ ජීවවාසික පිරිවැයට ගැඹුරු ආචාර ධර්මීය ප්රතිචාරයක් ලෙස මතු වූ සෝවියට් සිනමාවේ ඉතා සුවිශේෂ ප්රවාහයක් මෙම කෘතියේ ගවේෂණයට ලක්වෙයි.
Arcade Independence Square
Book Festival Grounds, Colombo 07
July 24 – 26, 2026
Daily through festival week
10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Late nights on weekends
Many of these writers appear in conversation across the festival week. Catch a signing, then take home a copy that means something.