Festival Neue Literatur 2026: “Guests and Ghosts”
Image: Festival Neue Literatur
October 27, 2026 | 6:30 PM | Goethe-Institute New York
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Join us on October 27 for Guests and Ghosts, an evening of readings and conversation as part of the 16th anniversary of Festival Neue Literatur. The event will also feature the presentation of the 2026 Friedrich Ulfers Prize to author and literary translator Peter Wortsman.
About the Program
The evening begins with the presentation of the 2026 Friedrich Ulfers Prize to Peter Wortsman, recognized for his distinguished contributions to bringing German-language voices to English-speaking readers. Priska Juschka, Director of Lichtundfire, will deliver the laudation.
The program continues with readings by German-language authors Michael Lentz, Tanja Paar, and Laura Vogt, and U.S. author Jonas Hassen Khemiri, followed by a conversation moderated by literary translator Alta Price, who curated this year’s festival. The stories range from a narrator held in complete darkness and isolation by a mysterious jailer, to an Austrian family in Anatolia whose lives are torn apart as an intercontinental railway is built and World War I begins; from a writer confronting her beloved uncle’s death and her father’s absence, to three sisters whose lives intersect over three decades as a mysterious character helps break a long-standing family curse.
About the Festival
Festival Neue Literatur (FNL) was established in 2009 as a collaborative project of New York’s leading German-language cultural institutions, including the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, the German Consulate General New York, the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, Columbia University School of the Arts, Deutsches Haus at NYU, and the Goethe-Institut New York. It is the first and only festival to spotlight German-language and U.S. fiction together, bringing new literature from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and the U.S. to New York audiences. The 16th anniversary of Festival Neue Literatur takes place October 26–29, 2026. The festival is presented with additional support from the German Federal Foreign Office, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, and the Frankfurt Book Fair Office.