3 September 2025 The 17th Conrad Festival: Radical Hope Discover the programme!
From 20 to 26 October, Krakow's Conrad Festival will host a plethora of outstanding writers. Chloe Dalton, Yan Ge, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Małgorzata Halber, Weronika Murek, Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, Łukasz Orbitowski, Ishbel Szatrawska, Ziemowit Szczerek, Colm Tóibín are just some of the literary stars. Together with our guests, we are going to look for a special kind of hope.
The theme of the 17th Joseph Conrad International Literary Festival Conrad in Krakow is Radical Hope. ‘We hearken back to the concept coined by philosopher Jonathan Lear, who was inspired by the attitude of the Crow Native Americans. A radical form of hope was what enabled them to adapt to the new circumstances, as they experienced the end of the world as they had known it. We want to follow in their footsteps and remain open to the good that may come, even in extremely difficult situations,’ says Olga Drenda, creative director of the Conrad Festival. She adds that: ‘We try to look at life after a crisis or sea change from many perspectives. Literature can reliably aid us in the process by feeding the imagination and allowing us to create possible scenarios of events. This year, we are interested in alternative histories in the broadest understanding of the term. Following up on the tradition of the Conrad Festival, we encourage our visitors to read and engage in bold discussions, and to ask new questions.’
The festival will feature Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah, who is considered one of the most eminent contemporary writers. The Tanzanian author of the acclaimed novel Afterlives was born in Zanzibar and has lived in the United Kingdom since the 1960s. His writings concern colonialism, voluntary migration and exile, and reveal lives suspended between Africa and Europe, between the past and the present. The central theme of his texts is the attempt to tell his own story, despite oppression of various kinds.
The experience of migration is also one of the main themes in the writing of Chinese author Yan Ge, who writes in Mandarin and English. Her literature concerns life at the intersection of cultures, and people leaving one language behind while trying to put down roots in another linguistic sphere. Her books, which turned out difficult to review and pigeonhole, have earned her numerous awards. Her short story collection Elsewhere has recently been published in Poland.
The eminent Irish writer Colm Tóibín, nominated for the Booker Prize and other accolades, will also join us in Krakow. In his prose, he gives voice to the unseen weight of life - the small failures, the silent longings, the moments that seem too insignificant to be transformed into narratives, and yet cannot be forgotten. His books such as Brooklyn, Nora Webster and The Magician, won the hearts of readers in Poland.
Sensitivity to detail characterises Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir's writings. The Icelandic novelist shows that hope arises from small, almost imperceptible gestures, such as fixing a leaking tap or tending to a garden. Her novel Ör (The Scar) was recently published in Poland and won the Nordic Council's Literary Prize. The book shows that even in the most hopeless moments, one can find the words to start again.
Chloe Dalton's autobiographical work titled Raising Hare: A Memoir was a result of an unexpected event. In her book, the British international affairs expert, who works as an advisor to politicians, tells the story of rescuing a baby hare and the bond that connected her with the wild animal. The story makes us rethink our relationship with nature and come up with new ways to respect our own and others' freedom.
As is tradition, the festival will feature a wide range of interesting Polish writers. We will be joined by Małgorzata Halber, Rafał Księżyk and Dariusz Misiuna, who will take part in a debate about the avant-garde and the lessons learned from the experiences of the former rebels. Dariusz 'Brzóska' Brzóskiewicz, Urszula Jabłońska and Łukasz Orbitowski will discuss the dream, which is specific to the counterculture, of living outside the system. Jan M. Piskorski, Ishbel Szatrawska and Michał Tabaczyński will discuss Poland's contemporary history made up of new beginnings, broken continuities and upheavals. Weronika Murek, Robert J. Szmidt and Adam Ubertowski will talk about the non-obvious visions of our country shared in recent literature. Weronika Gogola, Jan Pucek and Ziemowit Szczerek are going to take a broader look at the Central and Eastern Europe and its characteristic stories. Magdalena Salik, Marek Baraniecki and Michał Cetnarowski will reflect on the specificity of Polish post-apocalyptic literature.
‘One would be hard-pressed to list all the writers we will meet at the Conrad Festival, seeing how the programme is richer than even last year’s one. Krakow will host a plethora of internationally renowned writers - not all of them enjoy widespread popularity in Poland, but nevertheles, meeting them will be worth your while. The list includes Kamel Daoud, Horacio Castellanos Moya, Oleksandr Myched, Hanna Nordenhök, Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Jasmin Schreiber, Faruk Šehić, Emily St. John Mandel and Daniel Wisser. Check out the programme on the festival website and read the books that we are going to talk about this October. We are convinced that a spark of hope burns in each of them,’ says Carolina Pietyra, executive director of the Conrad Festival and director of the Krakow Festival Office, which organises the event together with the City of Kraków and the Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation.
In addition to meetings with authors and discussions, the Conrad Festival also features industry meetings as part of the Book Congress and Reading Classes streams - a series of workshops hosted by literature scholars. After a years-long hiatus, the Word2Picture stream also makes a come-back to bring together the book and audiovisual industries and to invite people to explore works based on literature - including films, games and animations. The festival will also feature activities for children and families, as well as film screenings. For the eleventh time, the Conrad Award for the best prose debut will be awarded to the best author. A detailed programme of accompanying events will be released in the weeks to come.
Check out the Conrad Festival channels:
Conrad Festival is organised by: The City of Kraków, Krakow Festival Office - operator of the Kraków UNESCO City of Literature programme, Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation.
Subsidised by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for the Promotion of Culture.
Strategic Partners: Tygodnik Powszechny, Allegro, Słowacki Theatre in Kraków.
Media patrons: Trójka – Polish Radio 3, Wyborcza.pl, Książki. Magazyn do czytania, Czas Literatury, Kraków.pl.
