passa porta festival
The Passa Porta Festival is the unmissable event in Brussels' literary life. For the eleven edition of the Passa Porta Festival, from 15 to 18 April, thousands of readers will gather in Brussels to meet authors from all over of the world.
Literary pleasures in your calendar
Every two years Passa Porta draws about 100 national and international writers, thinkers and artists to Brussels. They come from around the world and speak a range of languages. Scattered throughout the heart of the city, they bear witness to their love of the written word, shine their light on developments in the world, and pay tribute to the best literature from Belgium and abroad.
For a few days in April, the writers – both established names and emerging talents – appear in the many cultural temples which the city boasts. They also turn up in more unexpected places, such as shops and cafés and even in the street.
A literary mecca in the heart of Europe
The Passa Porta Festival is a carefully planned series of meetings and exchanges with writers as well as readings, performances, debates and audacious cross-pollinations between literature and other art forms. The common point between these different activities? They all provide food for thought.
The biennial festival grew out of our firm belief that literature is essential in society and also out of our desire to share good literature with as many people as possible.
At the Passa Porta Festival, the only multilingual literary event on this scale in Europe, there is something for everyone. Virtually all genres are on offer.
To give you an idea of the calibre, previous editions of the festival featured the following authors: Annie Ernaux, Russell Banks, Tash Aw, Julian Barnes, A.S. Byatt, Jonathan Coe, Jeanette Winterson, Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Sandro Veronesi, Fatou Diome, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Vladimir Sorokin, Richard Ford, Nancy Huston, Roy Jacobsen, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Lisette Lombé, Deborah Levy, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Ian Mc Ewan, Yoko Ogawa, Orhan Pamuk, Max Porter, Boualem Sansal, Ali Smith, Douglas Stuart, Olga Tokarczuk, among many more!
A look back at the tenth edition of the festival
Consult the full programme of previous editions of the festival below :