17th Bad Homburg Poetry and Literature Festival

A Festival That Turns the Town into a Stage

The Bad Homburg Poetry and Literature Festival enters its 17th round in 2026 and has long been one of the finest addresses for literary performance in Hesse. What began in 2010 as an ambitious series of readings has developed into a meeting place where stars of the German-speaking acting scene not only recite world literature but transform it into complete scenic, musical, and cinematic works of art.

Stages Full of Patina

The special charm of the festival lies in the staging of its venues. The Kurtheater Bad Homburg with its classicist hall, the Schlosskirche in the Landgrafenschloss, the ballroom of the Steigenberger Hotel, the François Blanc Casino – each venue plays a part. Those who hear Thomas Mann sit in the Kurtheater. Those who experience Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost" have breakfast beforehand in the venerable casino, where Dostoevsky himself once tried his luck.

Top-Class Performers from Film and Television

The list of readers reads like a Who's Who of German-speaking acting: Sabin Tambrea (opening with Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice"), Bettina Zimmermann and Pasquale Aleardi (Dumas' "The Lady of the Camellias"), Matthias Matschke (H. G. Wells' "The Island of Doctor Moreau"), Ulrich Noethen (Arno Geiger's "Reise nach Laredo" in the presence of the author), Jeanette Hain, Hans Sigl (Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"), and Christoph Maria Herbst with his festival debut. The festive conclusion is provided by Axel Milberg with Nordic fairy tales.

Music Meets Word

A reading here is never just a reading. The opening combines Tambrea's voice with Mahler, Sibelius, and Wagner, performed by members of the hr Symphony Orchestra. "The Lady of the Camellias" meets Verdi's "La Traviata," sung live by soprano Nika Goric and tenor Matteo Roma. For Jules Verne's underwater journey, pianist Claire Huangci sits at the grand piano, with light installations and surround sound immersing the hall in the depths of the ocean. For "The Island of Doctor Moreau," AI-generated images flicker across the Kinopolis screen – literature meets the 21st century.

A Spa Town with Literary DNA

It is no coincidence that the festival takes place in Bad Homburg. The once-glamorous spa town on the edge of the Taunus mountains attracted writers like Dostoevsky, Henry James, and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer in the 19th century. Anyone strolling through the Kurpark today is literally treading literary footsteps. The festival builds on this tradition and makes it tangible for an audience seeking literature as a live experience – with the voices you otherwise know from "Tatort," "Der Bergdoktor," or "Stromberg."

Special Program Format in December

Outside the main season, the festival invites you to a special Christmas evening in the Erlöserkirche Bad Homburg. Axel Milberg will read Scandinavian winter fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Selma Lagerlöf, and Astrid Lindgren, accompanied by the chamber choir and enhanced by Nordic light installations.