lit.eifel – Reading Sarah Jäger Blankenheim

lit.eifel – a different kind of festival

lit.eifel breaks with classic festival logic. There is no central festival location, no continuous festival weekend, no big stage. Instead, readings, workshops, and encounters are spread across the Eifel region: Blankenheim, Bad Münstereifel, Nideggen, Kall, Hürtgenwald, Monschau, Roetgen, Weilerswist, Simmerath, Mechernich, Nettersheim, Schleiden-Gemünd, Heimbach – 13 communities over several months. Each event takes place in its own, often historical or unusual venue: an old chapel, a castle, a library, a café. The concept: literature comes to the people, to where they live.

Sarah Jäger in Blankenheim

On Friday, September 18, 2026, at 7 PM, Sarah Jäger will read in Blankenheim from her novel „Das Feuer vergessen wir nicht”. Sarah Jäger is one of the most interesting contemporary German voices, with a special focus on generational narratives and societal upheavals. The novel “Das Feuer vergessen wir nicht” is one of the defining readings in the lit.eifel 2026 season program.

Blankenheim as a Festival Location

Blankenheim, a small community in the Euskirchen district with about 8,000 inhabitants, is located in the North Eifel, at the transition from the Eifel highlands to the Ahr Valley. It is known for the Burgruine Blankenheim (ancestral seat of the Counts of Blankenheim) and for the Ahrquelle (source of the Ahr River), which flows from a covered well house in the town center. A community where a literary reading is indeed an event – not just one of many, but the cultural event of the week.

13th Eifel Youth Literature Prize

Accompanying the 2026 festival is the 13th Eifel Youth Literature Prize with the theme “Hoffen & Träumen” (Hoping & Dreaming). Young people from the region submit their own texts, a jury decides, and the award ceremony is part of the lit.eifel season.

Funding and Organizers

The festival is funded by the Ministry for Culture and Science NRW and organized by the association lit.eifel e.V.. Ticket prices are deliberately kept low, with many events being free or accessible for a small contribution.

Blankenheim and the North Eifel

Those traveling for the reading can extend their weekend around Blankenheim: the Ahrquelle in the town center, the Burgruine Blankenheim, the Eifelsteig hiking trail, the nearby Burg Kronenburg castle, and the Tiefenbach nature reserve. The Eifel is particularly beautiful in September – the forests begin to change color.