Passa Porta Festival celebrates literature with the theme 'Ghosts'

The 10th edition of the Passa Porta Festival in Brussels will be dedicated to the theme of ghosts. The bookshop in the Dansaert district will welcome up to 100 authors and artists for one of the largest literary festivals in Europe.
The festival opens on 28 March with Ghost Stories at opera house La Monnaie. Five authors have been commissioned to write new texts inspired by the theme.
They are Eduardo Halfon, the Guatemalan winner of the 2024 Prix Médicis Étranger, the Dutch-Brussels writer Bregje Hofstede, Norwegian Merethe Lindstrøm and the Icelandic Jón Kalman Stefánsson. They will read in their native language, with simultaneous translation. During the weekend, the authors will also take part in discussions with other writers.
'Writers never die'
On 29 March, the influential British author Jeanette Winterson, known for Night Side of the River, will appear at the festival. Italian writer Erri De Luca will also be present on the same day.
"Each new book conjures up the ghosts of past writers, while casting its shadow into the future"
The next day, Passa Porta will host the Congolese writer In Koli Jean Bofane and the Moroccan writer and filmmaker Abdellah Taïa. Danish writer Solvej Balle, Passa Porta's writer-in-residence for March, will also take part. The full programme will be announced at the end of February.
"Each new book conjures up the ghosts of past writers, while casting its shadow into the future. Writers never die," the festival organisers say. "Writers will poke holes in time and space, debate the shadowy sides of history, and reflect on apocalyptic visions of the future."
In total, more than 100 authors and artists will be part of the three-day programme, which will include readings, interviews, workshops, meetings, book clubs and panel discussions.
Tickets will be available on the festival's website.
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