The 2027 edition of Folio – International Literary Festival of Óbidos will mark the 500 years of the death of Nicolau Machiavelli, under the theme “Who counts the World?”, was announced today. The festival, which will take place from October 7 to 17, will explore the relationship between reality, appearances and the power of the word.
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18/10/2026
by
Lusa
A edition 2027 of Folio – International Literary Festival of Óbidos will mark the 500 years of the death of Nicolau Machiavelli, under the theme “Who counts the World?”, was announced today.
In 2027, the 500 years of Nicolau Machiavelli’s death are marked and “his thought offers us a starting point to question the relationship between reality, appearances and the power of the word,” said the mayor of Óbidos, Filipe Daniel, at the close of the 11th edition of the Folio.
According to the mayor of this county, of the district of Leiria, the 12th edition of the festival will take place from 07 to 17 October 2027.
The organization today announced that “literature will be at the center” of the question that gives title to the festival which, for 11 days will raise questions such as “Who narrates? What place do you watch from? What lives light up and what experiences do you leave uncounted?”.
At a time influenced by digital platforms and Artificial Intelligence, this question “invites to read carefully, confront versions and take responsibility for the words we choose to share,” added Philip Daniel.
Closing the 11 days of programming, which they started on October 8, the mayor highlighted “the quality of this edition” with the participation of about 450 authors, including the Nobel Prize for Literature 2023, the Norwegian writer and playwright Jon Fosse.
Over 11 days, the municipality accounted for more than 100,000 people who attended some 300 events that marked the program that, for the first time, integrated the award of the José Pinho Award to a personality, the first being honored the editor Zeferino Coelho.
The 2026 edition of the festival was also marked by the creation of the Strategic Council of Literature and Knowledge, a new advisory body of the municipality of Óbidos, created to “consolidate literature as a true public policy and development engine, preparing the territory for future challenges and giving institutional support to the village’s candidacy to the Portuguese Capital of Culture 2028”, officially announced in June this year.
The Folio has been held since 2015, when the village of the district of Leiria became part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, as a City of Literature.
Organized by the municipality of Óbidos and the municipal company Óbidos Criativa, the festival has as partners the INATEL Foundation and the Livraria Ler Leisquel.