The festival will take place from 1 - 4 October, bringing internationally acclaimed writers, emerging talents, authors with Hungarian roots, children’s and young adult writers, academics and representatives of German-language literature in Hungary to Budapest at tge Hungexpo Congress and Exhibition Centre.

Family stories spanning generations

Swiss writer Christian Kracht, one of the best-known figures in contemporary German-language fiction, will present his novel Eurotrash. The darkly humorous, tragicomic family story follows a mother and son travelling through Switzerland as they confront their family’s troubled past.

Austrian author Dimitré Dinev, who was born in Bulgaria and has been compared by critics to Gabriel García Márquez, will present The Age of the Brave, a family saga spanning several generations and 20th-century Europe.

The novel explores memory, origins, crossing borders and the courage required to start again. It won the Austrian Book Prize in 2025.

Swiss author Nelio Biedermann, who has Hungarian roots, will present Lázár, a multi-generational story about a Hungarian aristocratic family that reaches as far as 1956.

German author Eugen Ruge, winner of the 2011 German Book Prize, will appear with Pompeii – Five Speeches of Jovna, while Hungarian-Swiss writer Melinda Nadj Abonji, who was born in Vojvodina, focuses in her work on migration, multilingualism and the search for a sense of home.

Ukrainian writer Natalka Snyadanko will also attend as a guest of the Austrian delegation and read from her novel The Archduke’s Silk Dressing Gown. Austrian author Johanna Sebauer’s Nincshof takes readers to a tiny village in the Austrian-Hungarian border region.

The festival will also welcome Vienna-born Gábor Fónyad, who has Hungarian ancestry. His Hungarian-translated novel When Jesus Came to the Hortobágy explores the fine line between faith and fanaticism, and between truth and madness.

Digital life, identity and growing up

The psychological impact of digitalisation will also be explored from both literary and scientific perspectives.

German author Martina Hefter’s Good Morning, How Are You?, which won the German Book Prize in 2024, examines care, loneliness and digital identity.

Austrian German Book Prize winner Tonio Schachinger’s Real-Time is set in an elite Viennese boarding school and explores growing up, freedom and social expectations, while German neuroscientist Martin Korte’s Mind Meets Machine looks at how the constant flow of digital stimuli affects the brain, attention and learning.

Younger visitors will also have plenty to choose from. German author Katja Brandis, best known for her Woodwalkers and Seawalkers series, introduces teenage readers to a world of shape-shifting adolescents.

Stefanie Höfler explores childhood emotions, shyness and the difficulties of connecting with others, while Sarah Welk’s How to Change the World? introduces children and teenagers to democracy, collective decision-making and active participation in society.

German author Kristina Moninger will appeal to young adults with romantic novels combining emotion and suspense.

A wide-ranging programme

The German-language programme will also highlight literature from minority-language communities, with authors from Liechtenstein, German-speaking Belgium and the German-speaking community in Hungary.

The programme includes contemporary children’s and young adult literature, bibliodrama sessions, creative workshops and activities exploring emotions, family relationships, different generations, community and history.

There will also be a handwriting workshop based on German classics and a programme connected to Thomas Mann’s Joseph and His Brothers.

The Frankfurt Book Fair will join the four-day programme, with professional events examining the Hungarian book market, the characteristics of the Hungarian and German children’s publishing sectors, and the future of literary translation in the age of artificial intelligence.

The joint guest-country programme of Germany, Austria and Switzerland is being organised in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut in Budapest, Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Embassy of Switzerland.

The playful theme, “Hallo, Literatourist!”, captures the spirit of this year’s guest-country programme, inviting visitors to embark on a literary journey through Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

It offers a chance not only to meet leading contemporary authors, but also to discover the diverse stories, voices and perspectives shaping German-language literature today.

Address:
Hungexpo Congress and Exhibition Centre
Albertirsai út 10, 1101 Budapest.

More:
Budapest International Book Festival

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