THE WORLD'S GREATEST LITERARY VOICES GATHER IN THE CITY OF PORTO
BABELL, the new international literary and cultural event promoted by the Livraria Lello Foundation, was presented at Livraria Lello in Porto, in a session attended by the Mayor of Porto, Pedro Duarte, the City Councillor for Culture, Jorge Sobrado, and BABELL Commissioner Rui Couceiro.
Conceived as a public-space event, BABELL aims to transform Porto into a living literary ecosystem, with initiatives spread across the city’s streets, squares and cultural venues. The event is supported by the Municipality of Porto and will take place from 24 to 30 June 2026.
The programme will bring together some of the most influential voices in global literature and contemporary thought, with internationally renowned authors already confirmed, including Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk (2018), Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Byung-Chul Han.
While its central programme is international, its soul belongs to Porto. BABELL will bring some of the world’s most celebrated writers, as well as leading figures from other artistic fields connected to language and storytelling, to the city and to Portugal. At the same time, the programme is rooted in the voices of Portuguese and Porto-based writers and artists, with conversations, exhibitions, performances, concerts, conferences and other cultural activities.
The event’s greatest distinguishing feature is its access model: in an unprecedented approach worldwide, participation in BABELL initiatives will be guaranteed through the purchase of a book from any bookshop or second-hand bookshop in the city. This model aims to promote reading, encourage community involvement and strengthen Porto’s network of independent booksellers.
During the presentation, Porto Mayor Pedro Duarte highlighted the ambition of the project:
“This project is one of enormous boldness, huge ambition and a wonderful entrepreneurial spirit. It has something very Portuguese about it—perhaps even something very Northern Portuguese. (…) To dream big, to think ahead and then to get to work, as we like to do here, and start making it happen.”
The City Councillor for Culture, Jorge Sobrado, emphasised the importance of the initiative:
“The reason we believe in BABELL and are fully committed to it is that we are living through a moment when words are urgently needed and thought itself is facing a crisis.”
BABELL Commissioner Rui Couceiro stated:
“We are working to make BABELL the biggest and best literary event in Portugal. We want it to be the best because Porto deserves the best; a city like Porto never settles for anything less. And we want it to be the biggest not to be bigger than others, but because we want to bring books and reading to as many people as possible.”
Promoted by the Livraria Lello Foundation, BABELL positions itself as a cultural responsibility project, placing literature at the centre of civic participation, critical thinking and territorial development.
“A razão para acreditarmos no BABELL e para nos associarmos de corpo e alma ao BABELL é o facto de vivermos um momento de urgência da palavra e de crise de pensamento.” (The reason we believe in BABELL and are wholeheartedly committed to this project is that we are living through a moment of urgency for words and a crisis of thought.)
