Danube – Strong Currents and Between Worlds

From 2026, Leipzig Book Fair will incorporate a variety of curated focus topics as a fixed part of its programme – open to all subject matters, both international and social. The coming year will kick off with the diverse literature of the Danube region. Under the slogan “Danube – Strong Currents and Between Worlds”, book presentations, discussions and debates will take place on a dedicated stage in Hall 4 on all days of the fair. The programme, curated by Stephan Ozsváth, is being developed in collaboration with partners such as the German Federal Foreign Office, the German Federal Agency for Civic Education, the Goethe Institute, TRADUKI, the City of Leipzig and cultural institutions in the participating countries, and shows where stories in the Danube region connect or divide: literarily, historically, socially and politically.

Close to 3,000 kilometers of Danube – that is Europe's flow: It springs up in the Black Forest and runs through ten European countries – Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine – before it opens out into the Black Sea in the Danube Delta.

Main subject areas

The Danube programme at Leipzig Book Fair 2026 will take place on a stage created specifically for this purpose. Book presentations, talks, panel discussions and other formats will bring the Danube region to life and will be curated around the following key topics:

Be part of the programme!

To be considered for the Danube programme, suitable new publications – such as titles relating to countries, places, history and the present day in the Danube region, or the cultural, social and political interconnections along the river – can be submitted with the following information:

• author
• title
• publication date

Please send proposals by 1 November 2025 to Josephine Etzold at j.etzold@leipziger-messe.de .

In addition, these titles must also be registered for the event programme of Leipziger Book Fair (Leipzig liest / trade fair programme).

About the curator Stephan Ozsváth

• *1965 in Andernach
• education in Berlin, Granada, Debrecen, Madrid
• worked as an ARD correspondent for South-Eastern Europe, Mexico and Poland
• writes books, trains journalists and hosts the RBB literature podcast “Orte und Worte” (Places and Words) with two colleagues
• lives and works near Vienna and in Berlin