From 11 to 20 September 2025, Berlin will once again host the International Literature Festival Berlin (ilb). For twenty-five years now, this festival has been the city’s gift to readers who like their literature global, diverse and urgent.
The ilb is Berlin’s literary town square, a go-to place for cross-pollination of ideas. Around 130 writers from more than 40 countries will step onto its stages this year. Some names are impossible to ignore: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Isabel Allende, Svetlana Alexievich. Others are rising voices that you will want to remember before they become household names.
A Milestone Edition
2025 marks the 25th anniversary of the festival. Fittingly, the theme is A Quarter Century of World Literature, with the official motto Glow. Mexican-American author and Pulitzer winner Cristina Rivera Garza, this year’s Curator in Residence, has shaped a program that pushes both the dazzle and the darker edges of this idea.
Her hand will be visible in panels that address what it means for literature to illuminate and unsettle at once. The Curator in Residence role was introduced only last year. It gives the festival a unifying theme around which the conversations can orbit.
Venues That Matter
The central stage is the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, a landmark on Schaperstrasse that Berliners know well. Other venues spread the conversations across the city: the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Humboldt Forum, and even an “open prison” which has become one of the festival’s most talked-about spaces.
For international visitors, the location is as practical as it is symbolic. Berlin’s subway network drops you close to the main venue and the city’s rhythm makes it easy to move between events without missing a beat.
The Range of the Program
Over 110 events are lined up. More than thirty will be conducted in English, ensuring international audiences are not left out. The program stretches from fiction and poetry to graphic novels and nonfiction.
The Young People’s Program runs from 15 to 24 September with sessions aiming at young readers. It is an important part of the ilb identity. Events will be staged at venues like Theater an der Parkaue and the Yellow Villa.
What Sets the ilb Apart
The ilb over the year has carved a big name for itself on the literary festival circuit. It has built reputation as a forum where literature and politics meet without apology. Scientific panels, social debates and geopolitical themes sit comfortably beside readings and book launches. This year will be no different.
It is also a festival that takes its responsibility seriously. Around 20,000 visitors attend annually and the organization behind it, the Peter Weiss Foundation for Art and Politics, has ensured the programming is not only ambitious but also inclusive.
Why It Should be on Your List
To attend the ilb is to take part in a global conversation. You, invariably, become a part of the conversations that range from Lagos to Lima, from Tokyo to Toronto and more. It is one of the few places where a Nobel Prize winner can share the stage with a debut author and the balance feels natural rather than forced.
Berlin, with its history of division and reinvention, is a fitting backdrop. The city knows what it means to rebuild and reimagine. The festival carries the same energy.
The Essentials
- Dates: 11 to 20 September 2025
- Theme: A Quarter Century of World Literature, motto Glow
- Curator in Residence: Cristina Rivera Garza
- Key Authors: Adichie, Allende, Alexievich, among many others
- Venues: Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Humboldt Forum, and more
- Young People’s Program: 15 to 24 September
Final Word
Literature remains one of the strongest tools at our disposal to interpret the world. The ilb stands as a living reminder of that power. In Berlin this September, the festival will mark twenty-five years of doing exactly that. If you care about literature beyond your own language or region, you should have this one on your calendar.
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