Overview
- The Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin begins in Berlin and runs through 12 September with about ten days of events drawing international writers and musicians.
- Jeet Thayil is the festival curator and delivers the opening address under the motto 'You are born with your face turned everywhere' to steer a program that blends music and literature.
- Nobel laureate Han Kang will present her new book in a sold-out evening that pairs chamber music from members of the Berliner Philharmoniker with excerpts read by Martina Gedeck.
- Other headline participants include Dave Eggers, who will present his novel Contrapposto with actor Ulrich Matthes reading, Douglas Stuart, Ben Lerner and Cornelia Funke among roughly one hundred scheduled events and many book premieres.
- The festival is publicly funded with €660,000 from the Hauptstadtkulturfonds, reported about 25,000 visitors last year, and continues institutional changes such as the Curator-in-Residence model introduced in 2024.