The Literary Festival Prima Vista 2026 explores the boundaries between artificial and real worlds

Press release
17.12.2025

The international literary festival Prima Vista 2026 will take place in Tartu from 11 to 16 May. The festival’s theme is ‘True and Fake’. This year’s patron is the novelist and scholar Meelis Friedenthal, and the festival’s partner city is Viljandi.

The festival’s theme offers an opportunity to reflect on the borderlands between human beings and technology, nature and culture, reality and imagination. It will explore how artificial intelligence and artificial environments shape human identity and creativity, how literature helps to preserve human experience, the role of imagination in the formation of identity, and what cultural authenticity means in a contemporary context. The festival aims to foster a lively dialogue between creative practitioners from diverse backgrounds and audiences, and to offer new perspectives for understanding the rapidly changing world.

Prima Vista will feature several acclaimed international writers. The programme includes author evenings, literary discussions and poetry readings, as well as cross-disciplinary events such as exhibitions, a film programme, workshops and a book fair bringing together diverse audiences. Young people will be offered creative writing workshops, a living library and meetings with emerging authors. New writing by emerging authors will be showcased at the event ‘Literature with a Spark’, and the festival will continue its collaboration with TarSlämm, the final of which traditionally takes place during Prima Vista. As is customary, the literary award ‘First Step’ will also be presented, recognising an author who made their debut in periodicals in the previous year.

Prima Vista 2026 will be of particular international significance for Tartu, as the annual meeting of UNESCO Cities of Literature will also take place in the city during the festival. This will bring literary network delegates from cities around the world to Tartu, creating an opportunity to present the festival, the city, and Estonian literature to an international audience and to establish new partnerships.

The festival is organised by several cultural institutions in Tartu, including the University of Tartu Library, Tartu Public Library, the Estonian Literary Society and the Tartu Literature House Foundation. Festival partners include the Pallas University of Applied Sciences, Tartu Elektriteater and many publishing houses. The festival also collaborates with the performing arts festival Ümberlülitus (Switchover), and the programme will feature the spring 2026 guest of the City of Literature residency programme, as well as the Tartu City Writer.

The Prima Vista programme will be published in April 2026