Pitchfest@Alliance

Pitchfest@Alliance

Launching for the first time at the 5th edition of the Alliance Literary Festival, Pitchfest@Alliance is a dedicated platform for aspiring authors to present their manuscript ideas to established authors, literary agents, commissioning editors, and publishers.

Curated by the MA Creative Writing program (M.A. in English (Creative Writing), Alliance School of Liberal Arts and Humanities) at the School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, Alliance University, the Pitchfest reflects the programme's engagement with the contemporary literary and publishing ecosystem.

Situated within this year's theme, Her Story: Celebrating Naari Shakti, Pitchfest 2026 reflects a commitment to amplifying new voices and narratives that challenge inherited canons and dominant histories. By creating space for emerging women writers and diverse storytelling practices, the Pitchfest extends the festival's vision of foregrounding women's imagination, agency, and creative possibility in contemporary writing.

How Pitchfest Works

Submit information about your manuscript idea, using our dedicated email id: alfpitchfest@alliance.edu.in

We will evaluate all the entries we receive and shortlist 15 finalists. The finalists get a chance to pitch their manuscript idea to a jury, get feedback and make connections for potential publishing opportunities.

The Pitchfest finals event will be held at the Alliance Literary festival on February 19-21, 2026.

Panel Members

Shinie Antony

Shinie Antony

Shinie Antony is a writer based in Bangalore. Her novellas include Eden Abandoned: The Story of Lilith (won the 2025 Laadli Fiction Award, the Wise Owl Literary Award for Fiction 2025, the Ruskin Bond Award for Fiction at Banaras Literature Festival 2026), Can't (longlisted for 2024 Crossword Book Awards), and The Girl Who Couldn't Love. She has written short-story collections Barefoot and Pregnant, The Orphanage for Words, compiled anthologies Hell Hath No Fury, Boo, Why We Don't Talk, An Unsuitable Woman, and co-edited The Art of Holding On, Letting Go. Her story A Dog's Death won the Commonwealth Short Story Asia prize in 2002.

Ajitha G. S.

Ajitha G. S.

Ajitha G. S. is a senior editor and publisher with over two decades of experience across book publishing, journalism, and editorial leadership. She is currently Publisher of Context, the literary imprint of Westland Books, where she commissions highly engaging narrative non-fiction and literary fiction. Prior to this, she was Senior Commissioning Editor at HarperCollins India and has held editorial roles at Outlook Traveller, Time Out Delhi, Down To Earth, and Oxford University Press. She has edited and published several influential works of contemporary Indian writing, including A Southern Music (2013), Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India (2015), Ghachar Ghochar (2015), A Feast of Vultures (2016), Tell her Everything (2018), Midnight's Borders (2022), Caste Pride (2023), A Chronicle of an Hour and a Half (2024), and The Lucky Ones (2024) among others. She is a graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

Deepthi Talwar

Deepthi Talwar

Deepthi Talwar is Executive Editor at Penguin Random House India. She has been a part of the publishing industry for two decades and has published fiction and non-fiction writers across genres. She also spearheads Penguin Eight, an imprint dedicated to writings from the Northeast of India.

Karthik Venkatesh

Karthik Venkatesh

Karthik Venkatesh is Executive Editor with Penguin Random House India where he commissions and edits non-fiction and fiction. Besides being an editor, he is also a writer and his articles have featured in several publications like The Hindu, Mint Lounge, Deccan Herald, The Federal and several other publications. He is the author of two books for young adults: 10 Indian Languages and How They Came to Be and 10 Makers of the Indian Constitution.

Submission requirements

• A 250 to 300 -word proposal/abstract covering the story idea, background and/or characterization
• A writing sample/ excerpt from your manuscript (2-3 pages)
• A 50 word bio note of the author
• All submissions must be sent as email attachments in Word or PDF format.
• Your submission must be in English and can pan the forms/ genres of fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels and poetry.

Timelines

• The deadline for submissions is 11:00 pm IST on Thursday, February 5, 2026.
• The 15 finalists will be notified on or before 10:00 am IST on February 11, 2026 via individual emails.

Rules for the Pitchfest finale

• The final pitches could be in any format that suits the book idea best - storytelling, short video, slide deck, performance based, stand-up, improvisation and beyond.
• The maximum time for the pitch is 3 mins
• The pitch will be followed by a short Q&A from the jury.
• Pitching will be in front of a live audience.

General Terms & Conditions

• Pitchfest 2026 is open only to unpublished women authors.
• The pitchfest accepts only unpublished work. However, you may include work that you have self-published, provided you include a declaration.
• An individual is allowed to submit ONLY 1 idea.
• The Pitchfest event is a platform for aspiring authors to connect with literary agents, commissioning editors and publishers. We do not guarantee or commit to any publication deals or commercial contracts from the event.
• Pitchfest is a platform for feedback and not a competition. The decisions and feedback of the jury is theirs alone and the Festival organizers or the University do not have any influence on the same.