When the Spark Catches

Lavinia Frey has directed the Berlin International Literature Festival since 2023. Before that, she worked as a director, choreographer and dramaturge. From 2018 to 2023, she was managing director responsible for programmes and projects at the Humboldt Forum Foundation.

At Frankfurter Buchmesse 2026, she took part in the panel "Literature Festivals in a Changing World: Culture, Community, and the Power of Stories" on the Global Stage on 7 October. In conversation with Svenja Pütz, she explains why literary festivals belong at the book fair. She says how festivals win young people over to reading. And she tells us what she values most about Frankfurter Buchmesse.

At Frankfurter Buchmesse, you spoke with colleagues from literary festivals in India, Turkey, the UK and Dubai. Where do you see potential for growth in your collaboration? Where can you move closer together, and where might the challenges lie?
One key point is that we have brought the topic of literary festivals to the book fair in the first place. That is a big step forward. In my view, the book industry increasingly recognises the value of literary festivals. As literary festivals, we are already well connected worldwide. That is thanks to the Global Association of Literary Festivals, where we exchange ideas intensively.
The bigger our network becomes, the more we work with the book industry and the more we help each other develop, especially in reading promotion, the better.

The PISA study 2026 reports negative trends in reading literacy. Compared with 2022, the performance of 15-year-old students in Germany has fallen by 15 points. One third of young people do not reach proficiency level 2, the minimum standard. In September, you announced some good news: more than 25,000 visitors attended the Berlin International Literature Festival at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and other venues. 11,000 people took part in the youth programme. In your view, what are the decisive factors in getting young people excited about reading?
I find the study truly dramatic. We have to step up our efforts significantly. My team creates a fantastic programme for school classes of all grades. Over the years, it has won over teachers, because they keep booking it. By now, adults even come to us who attended the festival as children and developed a real appetite for literature there.
The children experience that literature is alive. There are people who write, who have doubts themselves and wonder how they actually do it. That creates identification, and fantastic readings add to it. The children also develop an aesthetic pleasure, because they realise how beautiful language can be. If that spark catches, they start reading or keep reading.
That is why we have to make this much bigger. We should perhaps offer such events throughout the year and invite many more school classes. For that, we need a broad alliance of all players, from civil society and politics, together with publishers and bookshops. This takes everyone's full effort.

People from 100 countries come together at Frankfurter Buchmesse. How do you experience the fair on site?
Oh, wonderful. It is so inspiring, it is the best part. Of course, we have a lot of meetings, almost every half hour. But sometimes you have half an hour with nothing scheduled. Then you stand outside on the big square between the halls, and suddenly the author, the publisher, the networker or the colleague from over there turns up, including our international colleagues. You talk, you share a bit, you have new ideas, and bang, the next project is already under way. It is great.

Thank you very much for the conversation!

About Lavinia Frey: Lavinia Frey has been festival director of the Berlin International Literature Festival since 2023. Born in Hamburg, she studied history, theatre studies, philosophy and dance in Zurich, Bern and London. She worked at venues including Schauspielhaus Zürich, Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin and Staatstheater Schwerin. In 2007, she co-founded the culture and concept agency Graf & Frey, which developed literary festivals such as lit:potsdam. From 2016 to 2023, she worked for the Humboldt Forum Foundation in the Berlin Palace.

The interview was conducted by Svenja Pütz at Frankfurter Buchmesse on 7 October 2026.