Since 2024, an internationally staffed selection committee chooses a literary figure as Curator in Residence, who works closely with the team for one year, curates part of the program, and defines a guiding theme for that year’s festival.
For the 26th festival edition, the Indian poet, novelist and librettist, as well as musician and literary editor, Jeet Thayil was appointed Curator in Residence. The Curator in Residence Program is made possible by the LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin.
Within the 26th ILB, Jeet Thayil curates his own program, a festival within the festival. He has invited an unruly collective of poets, novelists, dancers and musicians, including Kamal Trilok Singh, Anthony Joseph, Tishani Doshi, Natsuko Kono, Omar Musa, Mariel Roberts Musa, Sarnath Banerjee and Mohammed Hanif. Some of them will take the stage together with the electrifying ILB House Band, led by Diego Piñera. It is a live experiment in collaboration: sound as impulse, movement as incantation, failure as possibility, risk in contention with beauty.
