Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival
Festivals
From 22 to 25 January 2026, Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague will be held in theatres, museums, libraries and schools throughout the city: from Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag, GR8 to Theater en Filmhuis Dakota, the Mauritshuis and the Curaçaohuis, the Laakkwartier, Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg, the Institute of Social Studies and The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
Internationally renowned writers and poets
Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague welcomes major, internationally renowned writers and poets, including Leïla Slimani, Pankaj Mishra, Kim Hyesoon and José Eduardo Agualusa.
Writers Unlimited also provides a platform for dozens of authors from the Netherlands and Flanders. Özcan Akyol, Hanna Bervoets, Adriaan van Dis, Maxime Garcia Diaz, Forugh Karimi, Rob van Essen, Lieke Marsman, Lucas Rijneveld, Lize Spit, Dimitri Verhulst and many others will contribute to the festival.
Programme
Friday Night Unlimited (23 January) and Saturday Night Unlimited (24 January) are two large, highly varied festival evenings. On four stages in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag, you can see performances by twenty-five authors and poets in twelve programmes. You choose your own route through approximately twenty conversations, interviews, recitals and performances, which vary each evening. Each performance lasts approximately twenty to sixty minutes. Dutch or English spoken.
Young people up to the age of 30 receive a 50% discount.
On Saturday afternoon, 24 January, the festival offers all kinds of performances in the auditoriums and foyer of Theater aan het Spui. The foyer is freely accessible, but you must purchase a ticket for the auditoriums.
Overview of programmes per festival day:
22 January
- Young creators, old masterpieces, Mauritshuis
- My Voice, My Body: Opening programme, Theater aan het Spui
- Mensen Zeggen Dingen x Writers Unlimited Festival, GR8
23 January
- Friday Night Unlimited, Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag
24 January
- The World After Gaza with Pankaj Mishra, Theater aan het Spui
- Adriaan van Dis on his new novel, Theater aan het Spui
- Everything my grandfather is secretly (6+), Theater aan het Spui
- Love, reading, lust – YOUNG! FFÛH and VPRO Club Lees, Theater aan het Spui
- Presentation of The Hague Literature Prizes, Theater aan het Spui
- Saturday Night Unlimited, Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag
- The Situation Reading Club with Dimitri Verhulst and Kim Holland, HaagsPianoHuis
25 January
- Van Dis Unfiltered with Adriaan van Dis, Theater aan het Spui
- Mir and the Mice (4+), Theater and Filmhuis Dakota
Tip: free writer appearances!
During the festival, Writers Unlimited offers free appearances by writers throughout The Hague. The writers will talk about their new books and read excerpts from them.
On Thursday afternoon, 22 January, you can meet Mahat Arab at the Laakkwartier Library, Mira Feticu at the Schilderswijk Library, and Sheena Patel at The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
Xillan Macrooy will be at Nieuw Waldeck Library on Friday evening, 23 January.
You can meet Curaçao writers Elvira Bonafacio and Tyson Hill on Saturday afternoon, 24 January, at the Curaçao House.
Writer Özcan Akyol (‘Eus’) will be at Ypenburg Library on Saturday evening, 24 January.
The programme of the Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival
Unfortunately, this event has already taken place. A new date for the next edition is not yet communicated to us.
View all upcoming events in The Hague in the agenda overview
