Brussels’ international house of literature is gearing up for an eerie 10th edition of its Passa Porta Festival in spring 2025. The bookshop, a beloved fixture in the European capital’s Dansaert district, organises the festival once every two years, and this time round will be exploring the theme of GHOSTS.
Between 28 and 30 March 2025, over 100 writers and artists will delve into the mysteries this theme inspires, as well as reflecting on the way literature itself has a spiritual and intellectual existence beyond the page.
Award-winning authors
“Each new book conjures up the ghosts of past writers, while casting its shadow into the future. Writers never die,” say the festival organisers in press materials. “Writers will poke holes in time and space, debate the shadowy sides of history, and reflect on apocalyptic visions of the future.”
The festival opens on 28 March with a Ghost Stories event at La Monnaie Opera House. Four authors commissioned to write new texts inspired by the ghostly theme will read their work in their native language, with simultaneous translation in Dutch and French. They are Eduardo Halfon, the Guatemalan winner of the 2024 Prix Médicis Étranger; the Dutch-Belgian writer Bregje Hofstede; Norwegian Merethe Lindstrøm; and Iceland’s Jón Kalman Stefánsson.
The following day (29 March) will see appearances by multi-award-winning British author Jeanette Winterson, as well as Italy’s reclusive and controversial Erri De Luca, once hailed as “writer of the decade” by Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
And on 30 March, Passa Porta will host Congolese writer In Koli Jean Bofane and Moroccan writer and filmmaker, Abdellah Taïa. Danish writer Solvej Balle, Passa Porta’s writer-in-residence for March, will also take part.
Practical info
The full festival programme will be announced at the end of February but, in addition to readings, the three-day literary extravaganza is set to include interviews, workshops, meetings, book clubs and panel discussions, as well as performances at a dozen cultural hotspots in Brussels.
Tickets can be bought online, or at the cash desk in person, half an hour before events begin. Standard fees are: €10 (€1 booking fee included) for online purchases, or €12 at the door. Special programmes are priced at €13 or €15, again depending on whether the purchase takes place online or in person. Workshops cost €12 or €14. Day passes for Saturday or Sunday cost €24, while a pass for the entire weeked is priced at €39.