TBILISI — The Tbilisi Literary Festival 2026, formally the 11th Tbilisi International Festival of Literature (TIFL), opens in two days under the theme Memory as Resistance. From 24 to 27 September, organisers bring together 12 authors from more than 10 countries for readings, workshops and discussions centred on how literature holds on to names, histories and civic experience when public memory is under pressure.
Founded in 2015 at the Writer’s House, TIFL has become a fixed point on Georgia’s cultural calendar and a rare literary hub for the Caucasus. Festival materials say nearly 200 authors from more than 40 countries have appeared across earlier editions, with more than 300 cultural and educational events staged over nine years. This year’s concept statement argues that memory is not only recollection of the past — it shapes who people are, how they read the present, and what futures they can imagine.
Why Memory as Resistance matters in 2026
Organisers frame authoritarian control of memory as a direct threat to freedom. Literature, they argue, gives voice to people whose voices are being taken away and safeguards a shared record of struggle, defiance and sacrifice. A substantial strand of the programme is devoted to contemporary Georgian documentary prose — books that pin a particular time and reality to the page — alongside meetings with international poets, novelists and translators.
The past two years have been difficult for independent culture in Georgia. According to the festival’s own account, political developments pushed public institutions to close doors to many independent writers and artists. Since 2024 the festival has been organised under the auspices of PEN Georgia, an advocate for freedom of expression and writers’ rights, and staged without state involvement in alternative spaces. For the 11th edition, that independence is presented as an urgent opportunity to amplify a voice of protest inside Georgia and beyond its borders.
Where and when: Goethe-Institut as main hub
Most listed sessions for 24–27 September take place at the Goethe-Institut Georgien, 16 Mikheil Zandukeli Street, Tbilisi. The official opening is scheduled for 17:00–17:30 on 24 September, followed by a meet-the-author session with Austrian writer Daniel Wisser and a discussion titled “How Does Literature Preserve Memory?”
Across the four days the published grid mixes author meetings, thematic panels and practical workshops. Named guests in the public programme include Kripa (India), Lusine Kharatyan (Armenia), Luca Brunoni (Switzerland), Ulrike Almut Sandig (Germany), Eliza Kącka (Poland) and Olena Herasymiuk (Ukraine). Panels include “Authoritarianism and Collective Memory,” “Writing Under Pressure,” “Literature and Resistance in Translation,” plus a Georgian documentary-prose session and a book presentation tagged Voice of Change.
Who should attend and how to follow
TIFL is aimed at readers, students, translators and anyone following the intersection of literature and civic life in the South Caucasus. Because the festival now runs through PEN Georgia and partner venues rather than a single state house, checking the daily grid on tbilisilitfest.ge before each session is essential — rooms and start times can cluster tightly at the Goethe-Institut.
For international visitors, the late-September window sits between summer heat and deeper autumn, with a compact programme that can be followed on foot in central Tbilisi. Contact listed by organisers includes PEN Georgia channels (info@pencenter.ge) for press and partnership queries.
What to watch for on opening weekend
Watch for how Georgian documentary prose is positioned against the Memory as Resistance brief — organisers say those books “hold on to a particular time, a particular reality” when the wider world keeps changing shape. Also watch translation panels: the festival treats translation as part of resistance work, not only as a market service. Ukrainian, Armenian, Indian, Polish, German, Swiss and Austrian voices in the same room underline the claim that literature’s mission travels across borders even when politics does not.
If search interest in Caucasus culture spikes around 24 September, this edition is the clearest advance date on the calendar: four days, a sharp theme, and a festival that has already reinvented its hosting model once. Readers tracking freedom-of-expression stories will find the programme less about celebrity launches and more about how books keep memory public when institutions pull back.
Sources and further reading
Programme and concept text are drawn from the official TIFL festival site (tbilisilitfest.ge). Background on the festival’s PEN Georgia chapter and regional role is corroborated by Versopolis and PEN Georgia festival notes for recent editions. Always cross-check same-day room changes on the festival site before travel.