The 4th Chania Book Festival, a Major International Book Event
09/07/2025The 4th Chania Book Festival, a Major International Book Event
09/07/2025
PRESS RELEASE
13 February 2026
5th Chania Book Festival
22-28 June 2026
“Turning Pages, Opening Horizons”
Central Theme: “Worlds in Conflict”
The Chania Book Festival, organised by the Municipality of Chania in co-organisation with the Region of Crete, returns for its fifth consecutive year in Chania, from Monday 22 through Sunday 28 June 2026, under the central theme “Worlds in Conflict”. The Festival will take place at the heart of the Old Venetian Harbour of the city, in the area between the Grand Arsenal (Centre of Mediterranean Architecture) and the “Mikis Theodorakis” Theatre.
At a time when certainties are shaken and social, political and cultural polarities intensify, the 5th Chania Book Festival, interventionist and timely in its orientation, with the participation of significant Greek and international authors, publishers, translators, academics and intellectuals, will focus on the oppositions that characterise the contemporary world: peace and war, open borders and fortified walls, democracy and the rise of the far right, economic growth and social inequalities, new individual rights and the revival of conservative identities, spirituality and fanaticism, human creativity and artificial intelligence, among others.
Through literature and the essay, the 5th Chania Book Festival seeks to highlight conflict not only as rupture, but also as a field of encounter, dialogue, understanding and coexistence among different worlds
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“Book Battles”
Pre-Festival Educational Programme with the Presence of Authors in Schools of the Chania Regional Unit (November 2025 – April 2026) & 1st Student Conference of Experimental Presentations of Literary Works (April 2026)
In its fifth edition, the Chania Book Festival inaugurates an educational programme entitled “Book Battles”, organised by the Municipality of Chania in collaboration with the Region of Crete, in partnership with school units of the Chania Regional Unit and with the approval of the Directorate of Secondary Education of Chania and the Directorate of Primary Education of Chania. The programme is implemented with the support of the Intermunicipal Enterprise for Solid Waste Management DEDISA S.A. (Local Government Authorities).
“Book Battles” will culminate in the organisation of the 1st Student Conference of Experimental Presentations of Literary Works, to be held in late April 2026 in Chania, where student groups from the schools that participated in the workshops will present collective, interdisciplinary projects based on literary works from Greek and world literature. The presentations will be followed by discussion with both student and adult audiences.
From February through March 2026, seven Greek creators are conducting workshops in nine Primary and Secondary Education schools, employing tools drawn from different fields of the arts and letters — creative writing, theatre, poetry, history, visual arts, storytelling, music, dance, comics, new technologies, among others — with the aim of fostering reading engagement through a creative approach to Greek-language and world literature, in connection with the central theme of the 5th Chania Book Festival.
In addition to their in-person presence, the seven creators collaborate remotely with the schools’ teachers and with the Festival’s working team from the beginning of 2026 until the implementation of the Conference
Specifically:
On 2, 3, 4 and 5 February, comics creator Thanasis Petrou conducted a workshop (“Comics and Local History”) at the Primary School of Kalyves, with the aim of creating a comic that engages with local history through oral testimonies collected by the fifth-grade pupils from their family and wider social environment.
On 5 and 6 February, author Amanda Michalopoulou implemented an experiential workshop (“Words Save”) with a group of students from the Lyceum of Nea Kydonia, focusing on adolescence and intra-family relationships through letter writing, using creative writing as the main tool through which the students composed their own letters.
On 9, 10 and 11 February, poet and director Ioanna Lioutsia coordinated a programme at the Lyceum of Souda, focused on the relationship between gender and conflict, as approached through poetry and theatre, aiming at the creation of a multimedia performance (“Our Poetry, Psychosomatic: Verses with Body and Voice”)
On 17, 18, 19 and 20 February, novelist Theodoros Grigoriadis will coordinate an educational programme (“School, Memory and Place”) for students from the Gymnasium and Lyceum of Kandanos and Palaiochora, focusing on the relationship between school, communication, place and memory through well-known Greek-language literary texts, while simultaneously leading a writing workshop from which both individual and collective creative works will emerge
On 25, 26 and 27 February, storyteller Agni Stroubouli will lead an experiential workshop (“Bullets Like Grapes: Struggle or Dance”) with pupils from the Primary School of Anopolis, approaching the theme of conflict through folk tales and the ancient text “Batrachomyomachia,” with the aim of preparing an interdisciplinary presentation at the Conference.
During the first ten days of March, children’s author Christina Apostolidi will conduct the educational programme (“All Bodies Dance – Removing Barriers”) at the Primary School of Drapanias, centred on accessibility and inclusion through the identification and removal of barriers that exclude disabled persons from various sectors of life.
During the same period, children’s and young adult author Maria Papayanni will implement the workshop (“Listen to the Trees”) with students from the Gymnasium of Alikianos, focusing on trees in literature, fairy tales and mythologies from around the world, culminating in the creation of a podcast.
For each workshop, a bibliography of three books — both Greek-language and from world literary production — has been compiled and will be offered as a gift by the Festival to the libraries of the participating school units.
Further information regarding the detailed programme of the 1st Student Conference will be announced in the coming period.
BOOK BATTLES
Direction: Manolis Piblis
Educational Design and Organisation: Pavlina Marvin
Educational Planning and Organisation Consultant: Kyriaki Beioglou
Assistant Coordinator: Zoi Georgoula
Hospitality Organisation: Athina Charitaki, Go Pro Events
We thank the Association of Philologists of the Chania Regional Unit for its contribution to the preparation of the programme, as well as Anna Nempavlaki, Special Advisor to the Mayor of Chania on Education, and Antonis Athanasakis, educator, for their collaboration with the Festival’s project team on matters concerning Primary and Secondary Education respectively.
The Chania Book Festival is organised by the Municipality of Chania in co-organisation with the Region of Crete and is among the most significant book-related events in Greece, dynamically positioning Chania on the Greek and international cultural map. Each year it hosts distinguished Greek and international authors, academics, intellectuals and artists, with more than 300 participations to date. Its aim is to highlight contemporary Greek literature and thought, support emerging literary voices and strengthen its international character, aspiring to establish itself firmly on the map of European book festivals. The Festival is designed and implemented by the non-profit organisation “Schedio Politismou.”.
