2026 Literatures of the World – Fabula Festival

Fabula Festival – World Literature Festival is the most prominent literary festival in Slovenia and one of the most significant in the broader region. Running since 2003, the festival has hosted some of the biggest names in literature, including Herta Müller, Michel Houellebecq, Jonathan Franzen, Bernhard Schlink, Rachel Cusk, Taiye Selasi, Hanif Kureishi, Richard Flanagan, Tatyana Tolstaya, Éric Vuillard, Deborah Levy, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Bernardine Evaristo, Francis Fukuyama and many others. 

In 2026, Festival Fabula, produced by the Beletrina Publishing House in collaboration with Cankarjev dom, the Celje Central Library and various local partners, will take place under the multifaceted slogan (Co)Responsible, foregrounding one of the most urgent questions of our era: how do we coexist and act responsibly within a world shaken by crises of trust, truth, and collective agency? Fabula 2026 focuses on the ethics of language, our responsibility towards history, the body, nature, and the Other. In a time marked by ecological catastrophe, political radicalization, technological acceleration, and global disinformation, literature emerges as a space in which ethical imagination and collective responsibility can be reclaimed. In foregrounding narratives that illuminate vulnerability, solidarity, memory, and civic consciousness, Fabula embraces them not as a theme, but as the basis for future coexistence of humanity, adopting the slogan (Co)Responsibile as the festival’s programmatic, ethical, and epistemological guideline.

This year’s literary guests represent a diverse constellation of globally influential voices: Colum McCann (Ireland/USA), whose virtuosic novel Apeirogon interlaces documentary narrative and lyricism in a story about dialogue in the face of conflict; Marek Torčik (Czech Republic), a powerful new voice whose novel Rozložíš paměť explores the body as an archive of memory and a means of resistance; Jonas Lüscher (Switzerland), whose work Verzauberte Vorbestimmung is a sharp reflection on free will, technology, and the crisis of human autonomy; Jakuta Alikavazovic (France), whose novel Au grand jamais voices silence, memory, and intergenerational experience; and Sergio Ramírez (Nicaragua), an essential dissident voice of Latin American letters whose political noir Tongolele no sabía bailar addresses censorship, violence and the pursuit of truth.

The festival’s theoretical programme – Fabula in Theory, will interrogate the languages through which we interpret justice, representation, and responsibility. Key guests in 2026 include eminent British jurist and writer Philippe Sands, renowned for his work on genocide and international law, and influential psychoanalyst Darian Leader, whose reflections on vision, subjectivity, mourning, and perception illuminate the hidden structures of contemporary experience. Alongside these acclaimed authors, Fabula continues fostering emerging talent through Fabula Hub, the Fabula Selection program pays special attention to Slovenian prose writers, while Fabula Polis places literature in daily urban contexts through interactive literary installations.

As always, Fabula’s programme extends beyond formal literary stages. Young Fabula and a series of public-space interventions, community engagements, and inter-arts collaborations will animate urban and digital environments. Dedicated initiatives will support accessibility, participation of diverse audiences, school and youth programmes, and outreach to vulnerable groups, reaffirming the festival’s belief that literature is a shared public good. The Fabula x CELA (Connecting Emerging Literary Artists) programme is a long-term international cooperation supporting the next generation of European writers, translators, mediators, and literary professionals. Within the context of its newly established partnership with the European project W.Write, Fabula will also strategically strengthen its international and feminist programme, offering authors direct support through residencies, mentoring, and networking, while also positioning itself among the active co-creators of European policies in the field of gender equality in publishing. Fabula Festival is a member of the European Festival Association – EFA, which has enhanced its international reputation and embeddedness into the European festival circuit.

Building on its 2025 expansion, Fabula 2026 will again unfold across Celje, Ljubljana, Maribor, and other Slovenian cities, strengthening its position as a national literary platform. Grounded in innovative and interdisciplinary approach while fostering international dialogue Fabula has solidified its reputation as a meeting place for literary worlds, profound humanistic thought, and the promotion of reading culture.