Berlin Poetry Festival 2026
5/24/2026, 3 PM

At the center of this year’s programme for the Berlin Poetry Festival (15 May – 14 June) are three major themes: myth, grief, and a critical re-writing of a predominantly white and male European literary canon.

As part of its decentralised programme on Whit Sunday, the festival will also be held at the Akademie der Künste. Poets Esther Kinsky, Ann Cotten and Anne Carson will read from their works and take part in discussions. The programme will be opened by the multi-award-winning writer and translator Esther Kinsky. Her work is characterised by an intense engagement with landscape, history and memory. She will be followed by Ann Cotten, who is regarded as one of the most idiosyncratic voices in contemporary poetry and who will present her recently published collection of poems, Poller. Idyllen.

In the evening, the Canadian poet Anne Carson will be reading live in Berlin for the first time in 20 years. Her work is particularly connected to this year’s festival themes, as myth, mourning and an engagement with canonical traditions repeatedly intersect within it.

From 2 June, the festival will be concentrated at silent green in Berlin-Wedding, where, alongside major themed evenings, numerous other readings and discussions, “Weltklang – Nacht der Poesie” (World Sound – Night of Poetry) featuring seven international poets, and the Berliner Rede zur Poesie (Berlin Speech on Poetry) will take place.