10,000 visitors for the tenth edition of the Passa Porta Festival
The tenth edition of the Passa Porta Festival, on the theme of ‘Ghosts’, was a tremendous success. The spectre of literature haunted Brussels for three days.
From 28 to 30 March, thousands of readers gathered in Brussels to meet authors from all over of the world.
The festival opened on Friday evening at La Monnaie with Ghost Stories, an enchanting evening in which Eduardo Halfón, Merethe Lindstrøm, Éléonore de Duve, Bregje Hofstede and Jón Kalman Stefánsson each presented for the first time a text written specially for the occasion, in a scenography by Jessa Wildemeersch and with live music by Birdsong, Fabien Leseure, Margaret Hermant and Pieter Theuns. The stories can be read at passaporta.be.
During the weekend, there were full houses for international names such as Jeanette Winterson, Sandro Veronesi, Solvej Balle, Paul Murray, Philipp Oehmke, Charlie Porter, Ghayath Almadhoun, Tine Høeg and David Nicholls, and gripping accounts from Ukrainian authors Andriy Lyubka and Dmytro Lazutkin and from Karim Kattan and Sahar Mousa from Palestine, who were greeted with a long standing ovation.
A great many cultural venues and partners in Brussels – including Bozar, La Bellone, Globe Aroma, MAD Brussels, De Munt / La Monnaie, Muntpunt, TRACK, Théâtre Royal des Galeries, KVS, Théâtre des Riches Claires, RITCS, Beursschouwburg, Continental and Brussels City Hall – formed the backdrop for dozens of activities and meetings.
On Saturday evening, the Beursschouwburg was bursting at the seams for the Debutantenbal, with Yael van der Wouden, Julie Cafmeyer, Sophia Blyden, Bob Vanden Broeck, Sabrine Ingabire, Lucky Fonz III and P.F. Thomése. Many other Dutch-language authors were also in attendance, such as Lize Spit, Charlotte Van den Broeck, Esther Gerritsen, Auke Hulst, Peter Terrin, Frank Westerman, Jan Vantoortelboom, Carolina Trujillo, Annelies Verbeke, Daan Borrel, Donald Niedekker, Lara Taveirne and Lotte Houwink ten Cate.
Thanks to CELA – a European project that connects authors, translators and literary professionals from eleven countries – you could also get to know a new generation of writers from language areas that deserve many more readers, such as Iulian Bocai (Romania), Marta Hermanowicz (Poland) and Myroslav Laiuk (Ukraine).
There was also a continuous free programme. In collaboration with many social and cultural partners, the festival brought various workshops, reading clubs, open mics and art projects to a wide audience, and on Saturday there was a children’s programme at Muntpunt to celebrate the end of the Children’s Book Month with Esohe Weyden, Gerda Dendooven and Kamiel De Bruyne, among others.
The festival closed on Sunday in the beautiful setting of Brussels City Hall with the unveiling of the new Poet of Belgium: a two-voice bilingual performance by Lisette Lombé and her successor Ruth Lasters formed the grand finale of an edifying literary weekend.
Passa Porta director Hendrik Tratsaert: ‘The success of the tenth edition of the Passa Porta Festival proves that in these times there is a need for new stories and ideas. Over three days and 20 locations, more than 100 leading authors from Belgium and abroad shared their words and wisdom during live meetings in packed venues. In the best place imaginable: Brussels, crossroads of cultures and the heart of the European ideal, which centres on connection and tolerance.’