Between 24 and 29 June, Porto’s historic centre will turn into a city of books. The BABELL Festival (source in Portuguese) is set to be one of Europe’s biggest literary events, bringing to Portugal some of the most influential figures in contemporary national and international thought and literature.
Organised by the Livraria Lello Foundation, with the support of Porto City Council, the festival programme will include two Nobel Prize in Literature laureates, Olga Tokarczuk and László Krasznahorkai, as well as other authors distinguished with the prestigious Booker Prize, such as Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and Julian Barnes.
Brazilian writers Conceição Evaristo, Milton Hatoum and Rafal Gallo, along with Colombian author Héctor Abad Faciolince, are also among the international guests and will be taking part in talks.
On the national scene, the line-up also features Lídia Jorge, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Bruno Vieira Amaral, Isabel Rio Novo, Filipa Martins, João de Melo, Dulce Maria Cardoso, Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida, Ana Paula Tavares and Valter Hugo Mãe.
Access to the sessions is secured through the purchase of books at a network of around 50 participating bookshops and second-hand and antiquarian bookstores. Each book purchased entitles the buyer to a token with a code, which allows them to reserve a seat, subject to capacity, via BABELL’s official website.
