Europe’s vast range of literary events includes some of the oldest and most venerated in the world. Use the search menu below to find events across the continent.
The Kinderboekenweek is held in October every year to promote children´s books in the Dutch language. It kicks off with a children’s dance party during which the prize for the best Dutch children’s book is awarded. Dutch schools pay close attention to the Kinderboekenweek, and libraries and bookshops also host special activities.
Crossing Border is one of the oldest and most innovative music and literature festivals in Europe, and the leading international festival of its kind in The Netherlands. Since 1992, we have been welcoming the biggest names in music and literature, as well as showcasing new and exciting talent from The Netherlands and beyond. Every November, the historic city center of The Hague is taken over by more than 80 contemporary writers, poets, musicians, spoken-word performers and other storytellers in 12+ venues, fusing genres and art forms for an unforgettable festival experience.
The Antwerp edition takes place in the same week as the festival in The Hague and is organized in collaboration with De Studio, Arenberg, Trix and Antwerpen Boekenstad.
Read My World is a leading platform for written and spoken words from all over the world. They create spaces of encounter for writers and storytellers, readers and listeners, publishers, and translators. The organization works with international curators and editors to create the International Literature Festival in the Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam in September. Each year the program focuses on a different region of the world where major social changes are taking place.
The annual Winternachten International Literature Festival in The Hague takes place at different locations around the city. More than a hundred writers, poets, performers, thinkers and young talents from around the world visit the city during four days in January. Visitors can choose their own route through a varied program including talks, interviews, readings, music and film events featuring writers, poets, spoken word artists, and musicians from the Netherlands and abroad.
Over several days in June, the Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam celebrates poetry with focus on inspiring, confronting and experimenting with its different forms. There is a lineup of poets from around the world, themed specials, talkshows, readings, movies, workshops, after parties and more. The main venues are the theatre Lantaren Venster and the Verhalenhuis Belvédère.
ILFU is an annual festival and a daily online platform for literature. The International Literature Festival brings the best writers to Utrecht and publishes commissioned work on the festival’s platform. ILFU’s mission is to show that literature matters. In a two-week program in autumn, ILFU seeks out all expressions of literature and collaborates with all kinds of partners.
