Choose Your Festival Experience
Morning Literary & Cultural Session
A curated morning experience where stories, poetry, performance, memory and migration flow between Kerala and the Bay Area.
Get Morning PassProgram details and featured artists will be updated as conformation are finalized
Full-Day Festival Pass
Access to the morning through evening including the complete ALF festival experience.
Get Full-Day PassProgram details and featured participants will be updated as conformations are finalized
If you plan to attend beyond the morning session, please choose the full-day festival pass.
PROGRAM SCHEDULE
September 26, 2026
Castro Valley Center for the Arts, Castro Valley, CaliforniaInauguration
A warm opening to ALF 2026, welcoming guests, artists, writers, and the community.
Morning Literary Session
A curated literary session exploring identity, belonging, memory, and the stories that connect Kerala and the Bay Area.
Lunch Break
Time to gather, connect, and enjoy lunch with friends, families, and fellow festival attendees.
Featured Performance
To Be Announced
This session will be announced later as additional program details are finalized.
Writers on Stage
A special space for book releases, book presentations, and celebrating young readers and writers from our community.
Featured Talk by Sunil P. Ilayidom
An engaging session with Sunil P. Ilayidom, bringing his distinctive voice on literature, culture, and contemporary thought.
Young Performers’ Theatre
A short and joyful segment celebrating the creativity and confidence of our young participants.
Dance Performance
Dance Performances
An energetic presentation of dance performances celebrating rhythm, movement, and cultural expression.
Musical Programs
Vayalar Night — Musical Program
A musical tribute to the timeless legacy of Vayalar Ramavarma, featuring singers and artists from Kerala in an evening of nostalgia, poetry, and song.
Children’s ’ Workshops & Activities
Children’s ’ Workshops & Activities
In addition to the main-stage programs, ALF will also feature parallel kids’ workshops and activities throughout the day, creating a fun and engaging festival experience for young attendees.
Art
&
Literature
Festival
The ALA Art & Literature Festival (ALF) returns for its fourth edition in 2026 with the theme “Kerala to the Bay: The Stories That Bind Us.”
Following three successful years, ALF 2026 comes to the San Francisco Bay Area as a celebration of literature, art, performance, memory, and cultural connection.
The festival brings together voices from Kerala and the Bay Area to explore how stories travel across oceans, generations, and languages. Through conversations, poetry, music, dance, visual art, and community gatherings, ALF 2026 celebrates identity, belonging, creativity, and the shared human experiences that connect us.
Featured Morning Session
Identity & Belonging: Voices Between Kerala and San Francisco
The day opens with Identity & Belonging, a specially curated morning session where poetry, storytelling, performance, music, and memory flow together as one immersive experience.
Designed for both Malayalam-speaking and non-Malayalam audiences, this session explores migration, home, language, identity, belonging, and the emotional landscapes we carry with us. Rather than a traditional lecture or panel, the morning unfolds as a connected journey of voices, stories, and artistic moments between Kerala and the Bay Area.
Afternoon Literary & Cultural Program
Conversations, Ideas, and Cultural Reflection
The afternoon brings powerful literary and cultural conversations featuring distinguished voices from Kerala, including Dr. Sunil P. Elayidom.
This segment invites audiences into thoughtful reflections on literature, society, culture, memory, and the continuing relevance of Kerala’s intellectual and artistic traditions in a global setting.
Sunil P Elayidom
Featured GuestA Graceful Mohiniyattam Performance
ALF 2026 is honored to present a special Mohiniyattam performance one of Kerala’s celebrated classical dancers and scholars.
Her performance brings the grace, subtlety, and expressive depth of Mohiniyattam to the Bay Area, offering audiences an unforgettable encounter with Kerala’s classical performance tradition.
Vayalar Night
A Musical Tribute to the Timeless Legacy of Vayalar Ramavarma
The evening culminates in Vayalar Night, a mesmerizing musical tribute to the legendary poet and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma.
Acclaimed singers and musicians from Kerala will join us for an unforgettable night of music, poetry, memory, and nostalgia — celebrating timeless songs and words that continue to live across generations.
As Kerala commemorates the 50th anniversary of the passing of legendary poet and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma, ALF joins this remembrance with a special evening of music, memory, and nostalgia.
Vayalar Night is a musical tribute to one of Malayalam’s most beloved literary voices — a poet whose words became songs, and whose songs became part of Kerala’s emotional memory.
Featuring musicians from Kerala, this unforgettable evening will bring alive the timeless melodies shaped by Vayalar’s extraordinary lyrics — songs of love, longing, hope, nature, and the spirit of Kerala.
For those who grew up with these songs, it will be a journey back to a cherished past. For those discovering them for the first time, it will be an introduction to the beauty and depth of Malayalam music and poetry.
Join us at ALF as the Bay Area celebrates alongside Kerala in honoring Vayalar Ramavarma — a literary legend whose words continue to unite generations, cross borders, and keep our cultural heritage alive.
Reserve your seats today for an unforgettable evening where poetry meets melody, memories find their voice, and Vayalar’s timeless legacy lives on.
Vayalar Ramavarma
Malayalam Poet and Lyricist
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Literary Conversations
Curated Morning Session
Vayalar Musical Night
Kids Workshops
Community Dinner
Food and Cultural Gathering
Mohiniyattam Performance
Book release / book stalls
Network Lunch
Poetry and storytelling
Featured Guests / Participants
Meet the distinguished voices joining ALF 2026.
Dr. Sunil P. Elayidom
Writer & Public IntellectualDistinguished literary thinker exploring culture, language, identity, and social history.
SUPPORT THE STORIES
Your support helps bring writers, artists, performers, musicians, and cultural voices from Kerala and the Bay Area together for ALF 2026. Contributions help keep the festival accessible, support programming, and make it possible to present a full day of literature, art, music, dance, and community.
Support the Festival
Help bring writers, artists, performers, and community voices together.
Friends of ALF
A meaningful way for families and community members to support ALF and enjoy 2 festival passes.
Community Supporter
Recognition on website + 4 festival passes
Festival Patron
Recognition on website Exclusive access + Event acknowledgement
Cultural Sponsor
Includes sponsor recognition on the website, event materials, and stage acknowledgment.
Presenting Sponsor
Premier recognition across the website, event materials, stage acknowledgments, and premium event visibility.
Sponsors and Supporters
About the Organiser
Art Lovers of America
Art Lovers of America is a cultural organization dedicated to celebrating literature, art, performance, and community. Through festivals, conversations, performances, and cultural programs, ALA creates spaces where artists, writers, readers, performers, and audiences can come together across languages, geographies, and generations.
FESTIVAL AT A GLANCE
MORNING SESSION
Details Coming Soon
FULL-DAY HIGHLIGHTS
Details Coming Soon
Organized By
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