ZAMEK Culture Centre

FESTIVAL OF THE PLOT 2026

Tickets:

TICKETS

Join us for the Festival of the Plot! Mark the date in your calendars: May 19th – 23rd, 2026. That’s five days filled with meetings with outstanding authors. And, leading up to the festival, we have book club meetings,  workshops, and lessons for schools starting now.

This will be the seventh edition of our literary festival (which is held at Zamek every two years, alternating with the Poznań of Poetry). This year’s theme is “The Art of Writing, The Art of Reading”.

“The main programme kicks off on May 19th, running until May 23rd. But the Festival warm-up starts even earlier,” says Joanna Przygońska from ZAMEK’s Literature Department, whose team organizes the Festival.

As part of the warm-up in April and May, our audiences will have the opportunity to take part in writing workshops, Plot Lessons for schools, workshops dedicated to creating poetry zines as well as calligraphy, where we’ll face our fear of writing and discover our own handwriting. You are welcome to sign up for the workshops and lessons (so many were interested in the Plot Workshops that registration has already closed!). Even earlier, in March, we launched special editions of the Castle Book Clubs, which are wildly popular at ZAMEK Culture Centre.

In May, our Festival will host eminent authors and critics coming to Poznań to meet with readers. Serhiy Zhadan has confirmed his participation. We will also discuss how to write about war today, with the assistance of Wojciech Tochman, who’s coming with a new book of reportage from Ukraine, as well as Tomáš Forró and Tomasz Szerszeń.

New novels by Maciej Płaza and Wit Szostak will see their premieres at the Festival. Our guest list also includes Weronika Murek, Paweł Sołtys, Paweł Rzewuski, Patryk Zalaszewski, Aga Zano, Piotr Sadzik, Monika Glosowitz, and Urszula Glensk. Moreover, we’ll focus on why and how to read at school (a debate featuring Aleksandra Korczak, Mikołaj Marceli, and Krzysztof M. Maj), and consider whether literature can be a force for action (a discussion with Inga Iwasiów, Przemysław Czapliński, and Grzegorz Jankowicz).

Those who are learning and teaching the art of writing will be there as well, coming from several universities across Poland. In addition, we’ll delve into some rough drafts and listen to as yet unfinished texts or books in the making, read by authors associated with Poznań (Antonina Tosiek, Magdalena Genow, Lidia Karbowska, Maciej Dobosiewicz, Maciej Duda, Marta Maciejewska). Also, you are welcome to come to a nighttime reading combined with a tour of the Castle and a walk through Poznań’s literary sites.

On May 22nd, come to a gala at ZAMEK Culture Centre to meet the winners in either category of the Poznań Literary Award: the Adam Mickiewicz Award (for lifetime achievement) and the Stanisław Barańczak Award – Fellowship (for individuals under 35). The following day, on May 23rd, the student community of the Adam Mickiewicz University will recognize an author with their Literary Award Z BUTA.

 “Passive stance is all too common in contemporary culture, yet literature—notably narrative fiction, which remains the foundation of culture – invariably harbours the potential to motivate, often to emancipate, and even – as we believe, after all – to bring about a revolutionary change,” says Marcin Jaworski, the festival’s curator, inviting everyone to the Festival of the Plot.

For full programme of the Festival click here

Please note that registration for the Poetry Workshops, poetry zine making, calligraphy, and lessons has closed.

FESTIVAL OF THE PLOT 2026
May 19th – 23rd, 2026
ZAMEK Culture Centre in Poznań

Festival visual identity by: Marcin Markowski

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The image shows multiple versions of the Festival of the Plot poster. The design is dominated by intense colors: yellow, red, and green. The image also includes a folded sheet of paper, the caption “Festival of the Plot”, and the dates May 19th – 23rd, 2026.