Passa Porta, the international house of literature in the heart of Brussels, celebrates its tenth anniversary with the fifth edition of the biennial Passa Porta Festival, which has grown to become one of Europe's largest literary festivals. The festival is very much multilingual and profiles itself as a truly metropolitan event; an opportunity for exchange, dialogue and discovery. In close collaboration with numerous partners from across Brussels, Flanders, Francophone Belgium and the rest of the world, this four day festival offers a varied literary programme putting Brussels well and truly on the literary map.

Masters of the short story from Belgium and abroad share the spotlight during a new edition of the Long Night of the Short Story. They play with the theme of Time in various languages and styles. Stories often focus on small, intimate events at the intersection of past and future. A unique host of writers and characters, with musical accompaniment by An Pierlé.

Kevin Barry, winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Award, and bestselling author Michel Faber draw on their sharp poetical vision to depict universal situations. Régis Jauffret and A.L. Snijders condense their stories into microfictions: Jauffret's are soaked in dark humour, Snijders's are chilled. Cult writer Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, crowned with Russia's highest literary award, blends the banal and the bizarre. French novelist Christine Angot draws the portrait of the age with fictionalized observations. Annelies Verbeke, Belgium's most translated short-story writer, reads a new story written for the occasion.

Flagey, Passa Porta, de Warande Turnhout, Irish Literature Exchange