The International Literature Festival of Rome invites Italian and international authors at the Stadio Palatino from 19-21 June 2026.

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Celebrating its 25th year, the International Literature Festival will bring together esteemed Italian and international authors who have made significant contributions to contemporary literature.

As always, the stunning Stadio Palatino, located within the , will provide the backdrop for the festival. A final special event has been added on July 18 at the Idroscalo of Ostia. This year’s edition will unfold over three evenings: June 19, 20, and 21.

The title of this edition is “Sconfinare” (“Crossing Boundaries”), a word that evokes the act of moving beyond imposed limits: those of the body, of roles and of language. In this sense, sconfinare becomes the defining verb of this edition, with each evening shaped around a specific theme: “Who Writes the World. Women and Power Dynamics”, “Against the Wind. Stories of Resistance”, and “Invisible Maps. The Power of Words.”

The guest authors, leading voices from the contemporary Italian and international literary scene, will be invited to take the prestigious stage of the Palatine Hill to interpret each evening’s theme and attempt to decipher the world we live in today.

June 19

The first evening, on Friday, June 19, “Who Writes the World. Women and Power Dynamics”, will open with an unpublished text by journalist and writer Concita De Gregorio, a long-standing signature of La Repubblica. This will be followed by American writer Rachel Kushner, one of the most original and compelling voices on the American literary scene, in conversation with Marino Sinibaldi.

One of the greatest poets of our time, Patrizia Valduga, a free, sharp and ironic voice as well as a refined translator, will then take the stage of the Palatine with an unpublished text.

The evening will continue with French writer, literary critic and translator Neige Sinno, author of the award-winning autobiographical novel Triste tigre, who will present an unpublished text and take part in a conversation with writer Rosella Postorino.

For the first time at the Festival, the unpublished work will not be a written text but a live drawing performance by award-winning cartoonist and activist Fumettibrutti, a disruptive author whose comics have given powerful and original form to often invisible experiences, bringing issues related to gender identity to the forefront.

Music by Chiara Civello.

June 20

The second evening, on Saturday, June 20, “Against the Wind. Stories of Resistance”, will open with a tribute to the great Iranian-born French cartoonist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, a committed voice for individual freedom, women’s rights and democracy, and author of the acclaimed graphic novel Persepolis, which brought the story of Iran to the world.

The evening will then feature an unpublished text by journalist and writer Widad Tamimi.

There will be two interviews during the evening. The first will feature Ahmet Altan, appearing in Italy for the first time since his release from prison. One of the best-known contemporary Turkish journalists and writers, Altan was imprisoned under Erdoğan’s regime for crimes of opinion and later released in 2021 thanks to a broad solidarity movement in Turkey and across Europe.

Pietro Sermonti, actor and star of successful television and film comedies, will then take the stage of the Palatine for a true preview. He will read Open Letter from a Writer to the Military Junta, written by Rodolfo Walsh, writer, journalist and political activist, on March 24, 1977, on the first anniversary of the coup in Argentina.

The second interview will feature writer and journalist Samar Yazbek, a Syrian exile and one of the most committed and exposed intellectuals in the struggle against the Syrian regime.

One of Italy’s best-known and most beloved cartoonists, Zerocalcare, will then read an unpublished text, his first non-drawn work.

The evening will close with Ukrainian writer and journalist Yaryna Grusha, member of AISU and of the board of PEN Ukraine, and Russian journalist Vera Politkovskaya, daughter of Anna Politkovskaya, symbolically taking the stage of Letterature together. Both will read unpublished texts.

Readings by Maria Chiara Giannetta. Music by Gabriele Coen and Ziad Trabelsi.

June 21

The opening of the third evening, on Sunday, June 21, “Invisible Maps. The Power of Words”, will be entrusted to an unpublished text by Spanish poet and novelist Manuel Vilas, winner of numerous prestigious awards and contributor to various newspapers, including El País.

The evening will continue with an interview with acclaimed French writer, screenwriter and filmmaker Emmanuel Carrère, whose works have been translated around the world and who has received numerous awards.

This will be followed by an unpublished text by writer and translator Veronica Raimo, author, among other books, of Nothing True (Einaudi), translated in several countries, finalist for the 2022 Premio Strega and winner of the 2022 Premio Strega Giovani and the Premio Viareggio Rèpaci for Fiction.

Mexican writer Yuri Herrera, one of the most authoritative and original voices in contemporary Mexican fiction, will also take the stage with an unpublished text and an interview.

The evening will close with an unpublished text by Indian writer Kiran Desai, winner of the 2006 Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, who returns after twenty years with her highly anticipated new novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny.

Readings by Gaetano Bruno and Neri Marcoré. Music by Erica Mou.

INSPIRATION

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