European Writers Salon Madrid 25-27 September 2026 - Early Bird Tickets

The European Writers Salon is unlike any other event you've been to. It isn't a conference, it's a weekend of creativity, surprise and community. The weekend will offer opportunities to :

• Join a warm and friendly community of writers from across Europe
• Participate in or lead interesting writing workshops and discussions
• Read your work at one of our Literary Salons or hear others
• Explore Madrid and get to know its interesting literary history and thriving culture
• Meet local writers and hear about life as a writer in Spain
• Hear from outstanding writers and thinkers
• Eat and drink with new and old friends
• Write in different places - parks, squares, museums, thrift stores, coffee shops and more

We would love for you to join us! All are welcome, wherever you live.

The event will take place in different venues, so you won’t have a static experience, and will come away with a sense of the city and what it is like to live and write there. We will spend Friday evening and Saturday daytime at the Impact Hub Alameda, close to Barrio de las Letras, the literary quarter of Madrid.

Saturday evening, we will be nearby at Ateneo de Madrid, the city’s foremost literary venue for our keynote evening.

On Sunday, we will be out and about in Madrid. We’ll also be hosting some sessions at La Industrial in Malasaña, an interesting and bohemian neighbourhood of Madrid. You will have many opportunities to visit local bookstores and other places of literary interest.

This year's Salon has the theme of 'The Age Of....' through the lens of which we will consider:

• How writers can and should respond to the times they are living through
• Our own personal 'age' and stage of life, and what this means for us and our writing
• How might future readers look back on this age? How do we understand it?
• How do we read and write past 'ages'? What might we be misunderstanding?
• How are we and our writing shaped by the 'age' we are living through?
• What literary 'age ' is ours? Post-literacy? Post-truth?

We’ll explore the idea that writers hold the pen on defining and redefining the present and the past on both global and personal scales. In lectures, hands-on workshops, and tertulias (Spanish for “exchanges of ideas”), we’ll examine narratives of time.

We are delighted that we will be joined by renowned author Yael Van der Wouden, who will address this theme on Saturday evening. The full programme will be published nearer the time.

Join us to explore these questions and more, no matter your age (in spirit, body, or geological time), the kind of writer you are, or where you’re from. Let 2026 be “The Age Of,” among other things, writerly community.

The first 30 tickets will be sold at this reduced price. Prices will go up once they are sold.

We are really looking forward to meeting you!

Info: Come along and hear about the weekend, get acquainted with the programme and meet other people before the programme starts.

Info: Join us for dinner and drinks. We'll get to know one another and ease into the weekend.

Info: Join us for a literary salon where we will hear a host of readers from our community. We’ll reach out closer to the time with details on how to sign up to read.

Info: For people who didn't come on Friday night, do come along and find out more about the programme and the weekend so you can make the most of your weekend.

Info: Join us for a choice of sessions. There will be panels, writing and craft sessions, readings, book groups, and more. You will be able to pre-select your sessions from the programme, which will be provided in advance. All attendees are also invited to lead, host, and join sessions.

Info: Join us for a delicious and healthy lunch at Full Circle. Most dietary requirements can be accommodated if we are informed in advance.

Info: Join us for a choice of sessions. There will be panels, writing and craft sessions, readings, book groups and more. You will be able to pre-select your sessions from the programme, which will be provided in advance. All attendees are also invited to lead, host, and join sessions.

Info: Before we take a break before the evening session, join us to enjoy a coffee and discuss your day.

Info: Join fellow writers for drinks to discuss your day and make new friends and connections.

Info: We are delighted to host Yael van der Wouden for an evening exploring our theme 'The Age Of...'. Yael will read from her work and join other authors in conversation about what our responsibility is as writers to respond to and record the 'age' we are living through, personally and politically. And to consider how we are shaped by the times we live through now and in the past.

Info: There will be an optional dinner available. This is not included in the ticket price and details will be sent nearer the time.

Info: These sessions will take you out and about into Madrid in creative ways. While the full programme will be provided closer to the event, options will include: a tour of Madrid neighbourhoods, writing in parks and squares, quiet cafe writing, a bookshop crawl, thrift store writing, a book group, and more. We hope you will see what a fantastic literary city Madrid is, and find inspiration in writing and exploring with others. We will finish at around 1pm in the Malasaña neighbourhood.

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