About Passa Porta
The international house of literature Passa Porta is a unique, multilingual meeting place in the heart of Brussels for anyone and everyone curious about ideas, texts and stories. It is where readers meet their favourite writers from Belgium and abroad and where they discover new talents. It is where authors and translators have access to a stage or a workspace. And every two years the Passa Porta Festival celebrates Brussels as a city of literature with the arrival of hundreds of writers and artists from around the world.
Passer la porte
Passa Porta: the name is an invitation to enter the house of literature – passer la porte. But more still it refers to the passport. Passa Porta wants to give access to world literature. A Dutch- and a French-language literary organization work together towards this goal, as does an independent bookseller, the Passa Porta Bookshop.
Brussels
Passa Porta is a house commensurate with the city of Brussels. An intractable city with 181 nationalities and as many days of rain per year. A city where virtually all the world’s languages are spoken in one area or another. A city of more than a million inhabitants and at least as many stories.
Stories and room to pause
These stories, and the possible forms in which to tell them, belong in Passa Porta. Besides authors, translators and artists, Passa Porta is where you will always also find room to pause, to take the time to reflect. And perhaps to arrive at new stories.
Welcome to Passa Porta!
