Books are read, drawn, walked and set to music when Literarischer Herbst Gstaad, Gstaad’s autumn literature festival, returns from 22 to 25 October. Across four days in Saanen, Gstaad and Gruben, the festival brings together established names, new literary voices and a programme that takes literature well beyond the conventional author reading.

This year’s line-up received an unexpected vote of confidence after the programme was already complete. Lilli Tollkien and Tomer Gardi were both selected for the longlist of the 2026 German Book Prize, while Lena Schätte went on to win the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Three very different writers, and three reasons to pay attention to this year’s edition.

One of the festival’s most poignant moments, however, looks back rather than forward. In 2022, Stiller Has and its frontman Endo Anaconda were due to perform in Saanen. The concert was cancelled, and the much-loved Swiss singer, writer and poet died shortly afterwards. Four years later, his words will finally come to the Saanenland when Ariane von Graffenried and guitarist Boris Klečić present a literary and musical performance at the Museum der Landschaft Saanen on Saturday afternoon.

Von Graffenried returns the following day in a very different setting. On Sunday, she accompanies the traditional literary walk from Gruben to Gstaad, bringing her rhythmic spoken texts out into the landscape. The audience can also move from observer to participant. Karin Rey leads a creative-writing workshop on Friday, while Saturday’s drawing workshop encourages visitors to take a sketchbook into the museum readings and capture what they hear and see in another form.

German is not the festival’s only language either. In collaboration with Librairie des Alpages, Saturday morning turns to French-language literature, with Alain Claude Sulzer presenting F. comme Frères at the Kleines Landhaus in Saanen, followed by an apéritif déjeunatoire and conversation.

You don't need to commit to all four days. Come for two authors and two books, spend a Saturday afternoon at the museum, try a workshop or join the Sunday walk. The appeal of Literarischer Herbst lies partly in that freedom: literature here can be encountered from a chair, with a pencil in hand, through music – or while walking across the Saanenland.

Literarischer Herbst Gstaad
22–25 October 2026 | Saanen, Gstaad and Gruben
Program and tickets: literarischerherbst.ch