Dear audience,
A joy shared is a joy doubled. So let me share with you today four pieces of good news about the 24th ilb that got us excited last week.
ilb named one of the 9 best literature festivals worldwide in 2024
ilb has made it onto this year’s list of the 9 best literary festivals in the world published by Condé Nast’s Traveler magazine. In honor of UNESCO World Book Day, the travel magazine of the same publisher also housing VOGUE, GQ, and Glamour, gave their top recommendations for book lovers. Among them is the international literature festival berlin, which was named as one of the »9 best literary festivals in the world«. The article states: »Though the 2024 roster won’t be published until June 25, one event that’s already been announced should give you a sense of the festival’s importance: the German premiere of Salman Rushdie’s new memoir, Knife, scheduled for the lead-up. The other early announcement: Helon Habila’s appointment as the festival’s first Curator in Residence. A Nigerian-American writer whose accolades include the Caine Prize for African Writing, Habila sees this role as an expansion of the festivals’ global appeal.
In addition to ilb, the following literary festivals were also honored: Sydney Writers’ Festival, Jaipur Literature Festival, Hay Festival, Tucson Festival of Books, Louisiana Literature, Macondo Literary Festival and the Nairobi International Book Fair, Buenos Aires International Book Fair.
You can read the full article by Abbie Kozolchyk here.
Helon Habila receives award for his lifetime achievements
We are also delighted to share with you that this year’s Curator in Residence at ilb, Helon Habila, received the KabaFest Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kaduna Books and Art Festival. According to the announcement, he was honored for his »exceptional writing and significant contributions to the development of literature globally«.
Lavinia Frey is one of the »100 most important minds of Berlin Culture«
In its latest series, Berlin’s largest daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel presents people who have had a formative influence on Berlin’s cultural landscape. And with that, our festival director Lavinia Frey is one of the so-called »100 most important minds of Berlin Culture«. She says: »What an honor –to be included by Der Tagesspiegel among the 100 minds of the capital’s cultural landscape and says ‘… this year’s festival is the first under Frey’s direction, and you can be sure: There is going to be a lot of change’. Yes, it definitely will!«.
We share her excitement and are thrilled about this nomination.
On April 30, Lavinia Frey also attended a panel as part of the Berliner Literaturkonferenz at Lettrétage. There, she pleaded for the relocation of Berlin’s Central Library to the current Galeries Lafayette building on Friedrichstraße, as well as the creation of a new foundation specifically geared towards literature and culture on the part of FinTech start-ups, which are becoming increasingly important in Berlin.
Rushdie premiere will be livestreamed
We thank all of you for your interest in the premiere of Salman Rushdie’s memoir »Knife. Meditations After an Attempted Murder« at Deutsches Theater Berlin on May 16. The event was immediately sold-out. However, we come bearing good news for those still wanting to attend: The event will be livestreamed by radioeins / rbb. You can find the link to the stream on our website on the day of the event.
We are also looking forward to presenting the Young Program on May 21, 2024, and the Program of the 24th international literature festival berlin on June 25, 2024. Until then, you will regularly receive exclusive information about program highlights before publication and news about this year’s festival in our newsletter. We would also like to invite you to become part of our community and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to celebrate this year’s ilb with us.
Yours,
Sydney Noemi Stein
Communications Associate at ilb
24th ilb
5 – 14 Sep 2024 Program
9 – 18 Sep 2024 Young Program
The Program of the 24th ilb will be published on 25 June 2024.
The Young Program of the 24th ilb will be published on 21 May 2024.