Dear audience,
No sooner is the festival over than we are curious about new books, stories, and conversation. With this curiosity, our team will travel to the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. The ILB is taking part in a trade event on the global role of literature festivals.
At the same time, we invite you to look back on the 26th ILB: on literaturfestival.com you can now find 12 recordings of livestreams and a selection of photos from the festival. You can also continue to share your wishes and suggestions about the festival with us through our audience survey.
Literature Festivals in a Changing World – The ILB at the Frankfurt Book Fair
This year in Frankfurt, the ILB is not only on the lookout for topics and authors for the next festival, but is also itself part of an event on the global role of literature festivals. For the first time, we are thus contributing to a panel on literature festivals for trade visitors to the Book Fair. After all, it is literature festivals that bring readers and writers together and create cultural spaces for literary outreach and debate. The inclusion of the topic in the Book Fair’s program underlines the importance of festivals for the book industry and for readers worldwide.
We warmly draw your attention to the event on 7 October 2026, at which ILB Festival Director Lavinia Frey will be joined by Isobel Abulhoul of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, Govind Deecee of the Kerala Literature Festival, Julie Finch of the Hay Festival of Literature and Nermin Mollaoglu, representing the Istanbul International Literature Festival (ITEF) and the Bursa International Literature Festival (BUEF):
Wednesday, 7 October
Frankfurt Book Fair
4:00–5:00 PM
Frankfurt Calling, Global Stage (Foyer 5.1/6.1 | A1)
Literature Festivals in a Changing World: Culture, Community, and the Power of Stories
12 events from the 26th ILB available online on demand
If you are reminiscing about the ILB or missed an event, here is the good news: 12 events are available directly on our YouTube channel. You can find an overview of the recordings on our website:
literaturfestival.com/livestreams
Impressions of the 26th ILB now in our photo gallery
Under the motto «You are born with your face turned everywhere», together with you we turned our gaze in every direction at the 26th ILB. In our photo gallery you can now look back on the readings, conversations, and encounters. Perhaps you will rediscover your own personal festival moment?
Go to the photo gallery
Your opinion counts: fill in the 26th ILB audience survey now
Do you have praise, criticism or wishes regarding the 26th ILB? We would love to hear how you experienced the festival, what you particularly enjoyed and what we could perhaps do better next year:
Go to the audience survey
We look forward to your suggestions and wish you an autumn of reading full of discoveries.
Warm regards,
Your ILB team