About the Young Program

The Young Program of the international literature festival berlin (ilb) presents a wide range of readings and workshops. Its activities are designed as a broad campaign to interactively promote reading skills and strengthen intercultural competences. Through direct exchange with authors and illustrators from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, children and teenagers can experience the world in its cultural diversity by reading, discussing, and exploring together. Another key objective is to introduce young readers to exceptional and courageous positions in children’s and young adult’s literature, both in terms of design and content.

The Young Program hosts around 15 international authors and illustrators who present their books, usually in the form of book premieres. For most guests, their festival participation is their first appearance in a German-speaking country. Among the guests of previous years are many of the most important international authors and illustrators of literature for young readers, including Elizabeth Acevedo, David Almond, Laurie Halse Anderson, Katya Balen, Frank Cottrell Boyce, John Boyne, Chen Jianghong, Kate DiCamillo, Kitty Crowther, Julia Donaldson, Roddy Doyle, Wolf Erlbruch, Manuele Fior, Cornelia Funke, John Green, Judith Kerr, Jon Klassen, Suzy Lee, Scott McCloud, Patrick Ness, Frida Nilsson, Raquel J. Palacio, Maria Parr, Jason Reynolds, Christian Robinson, Axel Scheffler, Peter Sís, Shaun Tan, Janne Teller and Angie Thomas.

The Young Program consists of around 55 readings and workshops, as well as an opening speech and the International Family Festival at die gelbe Villa. Since 2012, the Young Program has also been awarding the non-endowed literary prize Das außergewöhnliche Buch (the extraordinary book). Regular cooperation partners include Freie Universität Berlin, LesArt – Berliner Zentrum für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Treffen junger Autor*innen, THEO – Berlin-Brandenburgischer Preis für Junge Literatur, and lyrix – Bundeswettbewerb für junge Lyrik. The Young Program is a member of the Arbeitskreis für Jugendliteratur.

Readings

The readings in the Young Program are primarily intended for school classes from grades 1 to 12, but are also open to the general public. They consist of a panel discussion with the international guest, a reading from the book presented – in the case of illustrated books accompanied by a picture book or comic book cinema – and a Q&A session with the audience. Experienced hosts, actors and interpreters guide the young audience through the event. Some of the readings will be preceded by performances by young authors from Berlin and Brandenburg of the same age as the students, who will read from their award-winning texts.

Venues: Haus der Berliner Festspiele and Theater an der Parkaue

Event language: The readings will be interpreted into German. Selected events from grade 9 onwards will be held exclusively in English.

Event duration: 60-75 minutes or 75-90 minutes – depending on the age and attention span of the audience

Workshops

How can we effectively encourage children and young people to enjoy reading? With this question in mind, we have developed our workshop programme for school classes. The focus is lain on each child’s own creativity and reading skills.

• All workshops are free of charge.
• All participants receive a free book.
• The workshops last one to three days and take place at cultural institutions in Berlin.
• The workshops are aimed at classes in grades 1 to 11 from all Berlin districts.
• The content of each workshop is based on current books from this year’s festival programme.
• The participants do not have to read the book before the workshop, or only short excerpts.
• In the workshop, the participants engage creatively with the book by applying an artistic method.
• At the end of the workshop, the students spend one hour with the author in person.
• Option: Each participating class has the opportunity (depending on room capacity) to attend the reading by the respective author free of charge.

In 2024, the workshops offered by the Young Program have been qualitatively and quantitatively redesigned under the motto »Wortzauber gegen Buchfrust«. The project was evaluated in 2024. The report (in German) is available here.

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Contact

Head of Young Program

Lena Scheitz
lena.scheitz@literaturfestival.com
+49 30 27 87 86 71

Head of School Communication & Production

Henrike Schmidt
henrike.schmidt@literaturfestival.com
+49 30 27 87 86 72

Project Manager »Wortzauber gegen Buchfrust«

Maud Ruget
maud.ruget@literaturfestival.com
+49 30 27 87 86 66