Arundhati Roy at BOZAR
Booker Prize–winning author Arundhati Roy presents her long-awaited memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me. Known for her fearless essays and political engagement, Roy reflects on a life of courageous dissent shaped by language, imagination, and conviction. Moderated by Catherine Vuylsteke.

J.M. Coetzee has received more awards than he has written books, and he has written many. He won the Booker Prize twice and in 2003 received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He will give a lecture and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) will award him an honorary doctorate.

Writers Festival of Belgium - Cry Me A River

Welcome to the Writers Festival of Belgium - Cry Me A River! Join us in Namur for a celebration of literature, creativity, and inspiration. Meet renowned authors, discover new voices, and immerse yourself in a world of words.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at BOZAR
Internationally acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie presents her long-awaited new novel Dream Count, a story of friendship and resilience set during the COVID-19 pandemic. In her only Belgian appearance, she will be in conversation with Catherine Vuylsteke.

Danish author Solvej Balle, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize for On the Calculation of Volume, explores existence and time in a story where one day repeats endlessly. Join us for an evening with one of Europe’s most original literary voices.

[Salon] Nigel Clarke: How to Write a Film Score
Join us on 26 September at Full Circle for an evening with composer Nigel Clarke. Through film clips and insights, Clarke will walk us through his creative process in crafting music for cinema and television—exploring how soundscapes shape narrative and mood.

British-Libyan writer Hisham Matar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Return has met with widespread acclaim. At Bozar, he will present his latest novel, My Friends, a deeply personal and reflective work exploring the impact of the Libyan uprising against Gaddafi. Matar explores the power of friendship and the indelible impact of violence.

Spoken word artist Antony Szmierek has rapidly gained audiences with his thoughtful lyrics and flow. What began as poetry performances on small stages, led to sophisticated melodies to accompany his fine words. hailed one of BBC 6 Music’s Artists of the Year 2023 he now comes to AB Club to further his mission: to let others know that this is all possible!

Andriy Lyubka and Dmytro Lazutkin are two Ukrainian poets who use not only their poetry in their fight against Russia. At the invitation of Passa Porta and PEN Vlaanderen, they will talk about what it means to write in times of war. Writer Guido Snel will be in conversation with them, and translator Roman Nesterenko will read from their work.

Meet Solvej Balle at BOZAR, as part of the 2025 Passa Porta Festival. On the Calculation of Volume, is a series of novels about a woman who has fallen out of time and wakes up every day on 18 November.

Published in 2023, the Dutch translation of Days in the History of Silence was awarded five stars in the newspaper De Standaard and was praised by Peter Terrin. Today a Dutch translation of another work is being released. Als we zingen is another extraordinary reading experience that has been compared in Norway to Lucas Rijneveld’s The Discomfort of Evening.

Andrés Barba is sometimes compared to Daphne du Maurier, Guillermo del Toro, Mariana Enriquez and Shirley Jackson, but he is first and foremost the author of unique novels. Over the years he has quietly built up a fantastic, spell-binding, profound and lyrical body of work, fuelled by themes such as fear, childhood and ghosts …

Meet Paul Murray at BOZAR, as part of the 2025 Passa Porta Festival. His last novel, The Bee Sting was one of the most important books of the past two years. Published in 2023, this big novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and was on many book-of-the-year lists.

One Day was one of the hit series on Netflix in 2024. Emma and Dexter’s disarming story once more captured many hearts. That same year, David Nicholls, the author of the book on which the series is based, published his sixth novel, You Are Here, in which Marnie and Michael go on a quest for true happiness. He will talk to Barbara De Munnynck.

Eduardo Halfon and Passa Porta have a long history. The author of the unforgettable Monastery and The Polish Boxer, the great Guatemalan writer has already honoured the international house of literature with several visits. In addition to writing ‘Ashes’, an unpublished text for ‘Ghost Stories’, the opening night of the festival on 28 March, he will engage in an in-depth interview about his latest novel, Tarántula, a remarkable and chilling work.

Charlie Porter’s work as a fashion journalist and critic sheds new light on the poetic complexity of the objects with which we envelop our bodies. Porter will discuss his move to fiction with fashion journalist and curator Aya Noël.

Sandro Veronesi is one of only two writers to have twice won the Premio Strega, Italy’s most prestigious literary prize. With his new book, he shows that he has lost none of his storytelling powers.

Philipp Oehmke (b. 1974) grew up in Bonn and studied journalism at Columbia University. The eldest son is a cancelled literature professor who sees a saviour in Trump; the daughter has opened a queer bookshop in Berlin; the youngest son will do anything to avoid being associated with the fortune of his Elon Musk-like father-in-law; the mother, an expert on the work of Thomas Mann, is stuck in a stalled academic career; and the father would rather not talk about the past. Meet the Schönwald family, the protagonists of an ambitious debut novel that has been compared to Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections and Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks.

Jeanette Winterson rarely makes public appearances, but for the Passa Porta Festival she has agreed to give a lecture, followed by a Q&A with the audience and a book signing. In the thirteen short stories of Night Side of the River, she combines ghost stories and science fiction to examine the future of humanity. Who will haunt us tomorrow?

Set against the backdrop of World War II, Austen's debut novel "33 Place Brugmann," eloquently explores the challenges and the resilience of community in times of adversity. Come meet her at the bookshop Le Corner

An encounter with one of the most prominent German writers of our time. Daniel Kehlmann gained international recognition with Measuring the World, and was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize for his novel about Till Eulenspiegel. His most recent novel, The Director [Lichtspiel in German], further underscores his unique talent.   

French author Olivier Cadiot discusses the intricate relationship between music and literature. The occasion is Cadiot’s latest work, Pour Mahler, a lengthy, rhapsodic tribute to the renowned composer.

aja monet is a surrealist blues poet, storyteller and organizer born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Her upcoming book, Florida Water (June 2025), explores migration, belonging, and healing amid climate change and systemic violence. In this event, Dalilla Hermans engages aja monet in a conversation on Black empowerment, feminism, social justice, and poetry.

Turkish writer and journalist Ece Temelkuran will be at BOZAR for an in-depth conversation. Temelkuran is an influential figure at the intersection of literature and politics, whose work explores the complexities of identity, migration, and the challenges of contemporary society.  

Polish writer and Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk will join us at Bozar for an inspiring evening on the themes of literature and the imagination. She will discuss her work and the transformative power of literature with Annelies Beck. Central to this is her latest novel, The Empusium.

French-Moroccan author Leïla Slimani, one of the most influential voices in contemporary French literature, will be at Bozar to discuss her latest novel, J’emporterai le feu, the final installment in her trilogy, In the Country of Others [Le pays des autres].

Eva Illouz is one of today’s most well-known sociologists, and arguably the most prominent sociologist of emotions of all time. She’s been studying love for the past 20 years. 

Illouz offers incisive critiques of contemporary culture and society.

Benjamin Moser and Arthur Japin not only share their lives, but also a fascination for the American writer Susan Sontag. She is the subject of Moser’s  Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, while Japin’s novel, published this autumn, is about one of the most haunting episodes in her life. They join Melissa Giardina in conversation.