Lit.Cologne

The idea came in 2000 to Werner Köhler and Rainer Osnowski, who were soon joined by Edmund Labonté. Their frustration with traditional bookshop readings — which rarely drew a crowd — sparked the concept. They drew inspiration from film, theatre, and music festivals, borrowing ideas such as professional hosts and live translators. The inaugural festival ran from 21 to 25 March 2001 and attracted 30,000 visitors across 65 events.

Authors from Germany and abroad read from their works, with German translations performed live by actors including Mario Adorf, Senta Berger, and Christoph Waltz. A hallmark of lit.Cologne is its specially produced literary programmes, in which actors and hosts shape individual themes into a dramaturgical experience. The lit.kid.Cologne strand serves younger audiences, with readings staged at fitting locations — a crime story at police headquarters, for instance.

Since 2011, a companion event — lit.Cologne Spezial — has run in autumn alongside the Frankfurt Book Fair. In 2013, the philosophy festival phil.Cologne was added to the portfolio. From autumn 2017, lit.Cologne also organises lit.Ruhr in the Ruhr region, centred on the Zeche Zollverein colliery in Essen.

The festival remains privately run; significant public funding from the City of Cologne came for the first time in 2020. Since 2021, Deutsche Entertainment AG Classics holds the majority stake. Each edition opens with the presentation of the German Audiobook Prize at Cologne's WDR broadcasting house.