Zurich Reads 2026 – Saturday

From 20 to 25 October, Switzerland’s largest book festival, Zürich liest is back with us once again. The Debattierhaus Karl der Grosse serves as the festival centre, where everything comes together, and from Tuesday to Sunday you can look forward to a fascinating array of exciting literary events here.

Programme at Karl der Grosse | Saturday, 24 October

10.30 am – 12.30 pm | Bistro Crime fiction for breakfast – suspense up close with Petra Ivanov and Gabriela Kasperski

11.00 – 12.00 | Baroque Room ‘A Berliner in the Engadin’ – Novel debut by Franziska Barta

11.00 – 12.30 | Bay Window Room The Time Before Time – A Cosmological Novella

1.30 pm – 5.30 pm | Grüne Stube / Hofblick Living Library – talking to living books

2.00 – 3.30 pm | Hall Ingeborg Bachmann’s ‘Todesarten’ and the film ‘Modi di Morire’ – screening and discussion

2.00 pm – 5.00 pm | Baroque Room Blackout Poetry – DIY with Meli from Heissliim & Glitzer

2.30 – 4.00 pm | Bay Window Room The ins and outs of motherhood – or not. With Camille Fröhlich and Michelle Steinbeck

6.00 pm – 7.15 pm | Auditorium ‘Fire & Bread’ – Alice Hasters talks to Maximiliane Häcke about her new book ‘Anti-Victim’

6.00 pm – 7.15 pm | Bay Window Room ‘Das Falkenschloss’ – the ‘NZZ’ novel by Richard Reich

6.00 pm – 7.30 pm | Baroque Room Tribute to Dieter Fringeli

8.00 pm – 9.15 pm | Bay Window Room A friendly debate on conservatism with Roger de Weck and Reinhard Müller

8.00 pm – 9.45 pm | Hall An evening full of deception with Sarah Elena Müller, Lilli Tollkien and Özge İnan

8.00 pm – 10.00 pm | Baroque Room Poetry Divan – Lyric Table