From March 26 to 29, 2026, Monte Verità returns to question the present through literature. The 14th edition of the Literary events in Monte Verità (in the link, the complete program!) chooses Leonard Cohen's song as its leitmotif Dance Me to the End of Love, evoking a thematic interweaving of dance and eroticism, love and death. An ancient pairing—Eros and Thanatos—reinterpreted in light of the cultural and social transformations of the contemporary era.
Curated by Stefan Zweifel, the festival will take place between Ascona and Locarno, involving iconic venues such as the PalaCinema and Monte Verità itself, a place historically associated with the idea of "free love." But what does emotional freedom mean today? In an age dominated by dating apps and the fluidity of relationships, can love still aspire to be absolute, unconditional, all-encompassing? Or has it, precisely in its apparent freedom, lost part of its meaning?
Psychology of Love in the Digital Age
Among those addressing these questions will be Eva Illouz, a French-Israeli sociologist known for her bestselling book, The End of Love . In her most recent book, Explosive Modernity , the author analyzes the role of emotions in the global political and psychological context. Her presence at the festival will offer a critical look at how affective dynamics are being redefined in the digital age, where intimacy is both amplified and exposed.
Narrative resonances between love and loss
The official opening, Thursday, March 26, 2026, at the PalaCinema in Locarno, will be entrusted to Emanuele Trevi, winner of the Strega Prize, who will present My Grandmother and the Count . The novel tells an unexpected and belated love story, intertwining memory and finitude in a narrative that explores the initiatory dimension of feeling.
Guests also include Lukas Bärfuss and Terézia Mora, both Büchner Prize winners. Bärfuss will premiere King of the Night: A Short Book About My Mother , due out in mid-May 2026: an autobiographical text that explores one's family roots, suspended between individual responsibility and social conditioning. Mora, with Half of Life , instead explores the ambivalence of love, capable of transforming into obsession or revelation.
Navid Kermani, winner of the German Publishing Peace Prize, will offer a reflection that combines literature and philosophy. In "Summer 24," he recounts the sudden dissolution of a family world, while in Ascona he will explore the relevance of Simone Weil's thought on love.
Among the Italian voices, Antonella Lattanzi will present Chiara , a novel that captures contemporary emotional complexity with a writing style that's both tender and raw. Chiara Barzini, with L'ultima acqua , weaves together travel and memory along the Los Angeles aqueduct, connecting love for a city with the twilight of the American dream.
Dance and eroticism between performance and memory
The performative dimension occupies a central place in the program. Director Fabio Cherstich evokes the New York underground scene of the 1980s, when queer dance and free love confronted the tragedy of AIDS. A visual narrative that conveys the tension between desire and vulnerability.
Actress Patrycia Ziolkowska, along with Stefan Zweifel, will bring Nietzsche and Vaslav Nijinsky into dialogue, exploring Dionysian philosophy and the body as an instrument of knowledge. Drummer Vincent Glanzmann will accompany the meeting with a musical performance inspired by the famous aphorism: "One must have chaos within oneself to create a dancing star."
The program also includes an unreleased duet by Sarah Brahim and Omí, focusing on body and sound, and a multimedia reading with Judith Kuckart and Laura de Weck, conceived as a true “dance of words.”
Between beauty and anxiety
Madame Nielsen will present Lamento , a novel that reflects on the impossibility of reconciling the enchantment of falling in love with everyday life. In conversation with German scholar Philipp Theisohn, she will retrace her artistic journey.
Martin Meyer, formerly editor of the culture pages of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , will analyze the relationship between love and death in the adventures of Tintin. Barbara Nüsse will read excerpts from Boris Vian's La Froth des jours , described by Raymond Queneau as "perhaps the most beautiful romance novel in world literature." For the occasion, bartender Peter Roth will propose cocktails inspired by Vian's piano cocktail, capable of transforming music into drinks.
Symbolic places and cultural memory
For the first time during the festival, Casa Monte Tabor will open to the public. Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard lived here. Walter Feilchenfeldt will share personal memories of his godfather, while previously unpublished photographs by Marianne Breslauer will offer a glimpse into the writer's family environment.
At the Eranos Foundation, Allan Guggenbühl will present new therapeutic approaches for children and adolescents traumatized by the war in Ukraine, in keeping with the institution's Jungian tradition.
Pre-festival and dialogue between generations
The program will begin on Saturday, March 21st, at Villa Saroli in Lugano, in collaboration with the Casa della Letteratura, with an afternoon dedicated to contemporary relationships. A roundtable discussion inspired by Victoire Tuaillon's "The Discovered Heart: To Remake Love" will feature Leo Acquistapace, Antonia Caruso, and Carlotta De Sanctis. This will be followed by a panel discussion with Naoise Dolan and a DJ set by Damla Karaçayir.
On Wednesday 25 March, in collaboration with the Ascona Popular Library – which is celebrating its centenary – the meeting for the publication of the unpublished story A Long Walk from Hell , the only text set in Ticino, will be dedicated to Patricia Highsmith.
There will also be space for the little ones with workshops and readings: Gionata Bernasconi will guide them through the discovery of children's fiction, Antoine Déprez will offer a workshop on the symbols of love and death, Mara Manzolini will read Astrid Lindgren's The Brothers Lionheart , and the Mimesi Art School will lead a cyanotype workshop.
Information and supporters
The full program of Monte Verità Literary Events 2026 and information on ticket pre-sales are available at the following link.
The event is promoted by the Monte Verità Literary Events Association, chaired by Raphaël Brunschwig. The artistic direction is entrusted to Stefan Zweifel with Giuliana Altamura and Stefano Knuchel; the organizational direction is handled by Carmen Werner.
We would like to thank the Department of Education, Culture and Sport of the Canton of Ticino, the Municipality of Ascona, the Lago Maggiore e Valli Tourist Organization, and the Presenting Partner la Mobiliare, as well as the cultural foundations and private donors who supported the project.
