Sea of Literature 2026. Join Us in Darłowo for a Literary Festival
From 18 to 21 September 2026, Darłowo will host the Sea of Literature festival. The first edition of the festival will be devoted to loneliness – an experience that can distance people from one another, but can also become a space for reading, reflection and encounters with others.
Loneliness resembles the sea – it attracts and repels, and can be both a choice and a sense of isolation. Literature, too, is like the sea: inexhaustible, filled with hidden stories, memories and narratives. During the festival, participants will explore how literature allows us to speak about loneliness and how it can help us transcend the boundaries of individual experience.
The festival will open on Friday, 18 September, with a concert by Kortez in Darłowo’s Market Square.
On Saturday, 19 September, the boulevard will host a series of open discussions devoted to literature, history, family memory, the experience of success and the place of literature in a world in which loneliness is increasingly discussed. Participants will include, among others, Kortez, Aldona Kopkiewicz, Adam Wiedemann, Anda Rottenberg, Ireneusz Grin, Justyna Adamczyk, Hanna Grudzińska, Grzegorz Gauden, Prof. Joanna Zach, Dr Maria Dzieduszycka, Prof. Maciej Janowski, Elżbieta Moczarska, Prof. Marcin Zaremba and Prof. Jarosław Hrycak.
One of the festival’s special events will be a Night-Time Poetry Reading. Ewa Lipska and Ryszard Krynicki will read their poems on the observation terrace in Darłówko.
The evening will conclude at the Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes with the first Gala of the Czesław Miłosz Award, established by the National Library of Poland. The ceremony will be hosted by Katarzyna Kasia and Grzegorz Markowski.
On Sunday, 20 September, the discussions will focus on topics including loneliness in exile, telling the stories of other people’s lives and the individual experience of engaging with culture. Participants will include, among others, Dr Marta Herling, Aleksandra Majdzińska, Prof. Krzysztof Pomian, Prof. Marek Bernacki, Aleksandra Tarnowska, Prof. Roman Chymkowski, Prof. Marek Krajewski and Beata Chmiel.
The festival will conclude on Monday, 21 September, with workshops for young people in Darłowo. Participants will have the opportunity to discover that reading does not necessarily lead to ready-made answers – it can be an adventure in independent thinking and a journey into the unknown.
Sea of Literature invites you on just such a journey: through books, stories, memories and the experiences of others. For although we read alone, literature allows us to discover that even the most distant islands are part of the same archipelago. Join us in Darłowo from 18 to 21 September 2026.
The full programme of the Sea of Literature festival is available at darlowo.pl.
The patron of the Sea of Literature festival is the Polish National Foundation.
The organisers of the Sea of Literature festival are the National Library of Poland, the Agnieszka Osiecka Municipal Library in Darłowo and the Demokracja Foundation.
The partners of the Sea of Literature festival are the City of Darłowo, Sea Collection by Marina Royale, the Darłowo Cultural Centre and the Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes.