BookCity Milano 2026: meet international writers and find a new corner of the city
by 
Babylon Radio
Listen nowMilan’s book festival offers a particularly good reason to leave your usual neighbourhood this November: an evening with an international novelist, a conversation about journeys and memory, or a reading session to share with young children. BookCity Milano returns from 23 to 29 November 2026, bringing writers and readers into the city’s libraries, bookshops, theatres and museums.
For someone settling into Milan, that is an appealing combination. You can choose a writer you already know while discovering a cultural venue you might otherwise walk past. Rather than trying to follow the entire programme, start with one conversation that interests you and build an afternoon or evening around it.
Start with a writer you want to hear
The opening evening brings Colson Whitehead to Teatro Dal Verme on Monday 23 November at 8pm. He will discuss literature and the United States with journalist Francesco Costa, with Giovanna Zucconi hosting. The programme was announced in the organiser’s 26 October press release.
Archive photograph: Colson Whitehead at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 21 August 2026, not at BookCity Milano. Photo: Mateusz Malta / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and letterboxed; this adaptation is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The fifteenth edition’s theme, Il senno sulla Luna, draws on Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. Alongside its author encounters, this year introduces a programme for children aged up to six and a special focus on Via Padova, developed with organisations bringing books and reading into the neighbourhood.
Two translated conversations to put in your diary
Fondazione Luigi Rovati, at Corso Venezia 52, has two useful starting points for readers interested in international literature. Both conversations include a translation service; check the linked event pages for language details when reserving.
An advance event on Sunday 22 November at 4pm, before the main festival week, features Edmund de Waal’s Come cominciare. The artist and writer explores finding a creative voice through family history, poetry and ceramics. Letters between his grandmother Elisabeth Ephrussi and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke are a starting point for a conversation spanning three generations.
On Wednesday 25 November at 6pm, Jan Brokken discusses La malinconia del viaggiatore with Daniele Cassandro. His stories follow composers, poets and writers across Europe and America, weaving together music, place and memory. It is an inviting choice for anyone drawn to the way travel changes how we see the world.
Both encounters are free, with advance reservation recommended through the venue’s event pages. Their tickets cover the conversations rather than admission to the art museum.
Make it your own Milan evening
Browse the official BookCity programme, pick a subject that genuinely interests you and check that event’s language and booking arrangements. A translated author talk can be a comfortable first step; a local bookshop event might instead be a chance to practise Italian around a shared interest.
There is no need to arrive with a reading list already completed. An author encounter can introduce you to a new book as easily as deepen your appreciation of an old favourite. Invite a friend who likes the same subject, or go on your own and enjoy the conversation at your own pace.
BookCity works best as an invitation to explore, not a checklist to complete. Choose one encounter, give yourself time to enjoy the neighbourhood around it, and let a book lead you somewhere new.
Featured photograph: Archive photograph: Teatro Dal Verme, Milan, 14 September 2018, not taken during BookCity. Photo: Simone Priori / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized; this adaptation is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.