Auf Wiedersehen!

Goodbye!

Dear audience, on the evening of March 22, 2026, after 17 days of the festival and nearly 200 events, the 26th edition of lit.COLOGNE—the longest and most well-attended to date—came to a close with a moving reading by the American author of world literature, Siri Hustvedt!
A total of 121,000 people attended this year’s events, many of which had been sold out for weeks. Of these, lit.kid.COLOGNE alone once again reached 30,000 children and young people.

It is with great joy that we look back on the 26th lit.COLOGNE and would like to say thank you.

 

Our special thanks go to our sponsors and supporters, all the artists and contributors, and to you—our wonderful audience. Because it is you who make lit.COLOGNE what it is!

The 27th lit.COLOGNE will take place next year from February 26 to March 14, 2027.

We look forward to seeing you again!
Your lit.COLOGNE team

Nächste Veranstaltungen

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lit.kid.COLOGNE celebrates reading!

For and with children and young people, in the mornings for school classes and at weekends in the family program and at lit.ComingOfAge.

lit.kid.COLOGNE encourages people to read, think and talk. Authors and other interesting and interested personalities read, talk and discuss with children and young people at eye level, taking them with them to cross familiar horizons and discover new worlds of reading.

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The lit.COLOGNE strives to be as inclusive as possible.

For years now, the lit.COLOGNE has been actively working to enable persons with disabilities to participate. There is a wide range of barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating normally in cultural events. In its efforts to change this, the phil.cologne offers multiple fully-accessible and improved-access events every year.

More information

Upcoming dates

The next lit.COLOGNE dates
2026: March 6 to 22
2027: February 26 to March 14

Hauptsponsor
Thalia Hauptsponsor lit.COLOGNE
Hauptsponsor
RheinEnergie
Hauptsponsor
Flossbach von Storch
Sponsorpartner
NetCologne
Sponsorpartner
NRW Bank
Sponsorpartner
Juwelier Gadebusch
Sponsorpartner
Sparkasse KölnBonn
Förderer
Otto Wolff Stiftung
Förderer
Victor Rolff Stiftung
Förderer
Imhoff Stiftung
Förderer
Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Medienpartner
WDR
Medienpartner
Kölner Stadt Anzeiger
Kooperationspartner
Stadt Köln
...
Partner