The 8th White Ravens Festival for International Children's and Youth Literature took place from 13 to 17 July 2025 at Blutenburg Castle and at a total of 47 other reading locations throughout Bavaria. The festival opened with a large family event at which visitors could listen to the captivating stories and get active themselves at many activity stations. The ‘Phoenix’ of the Zebra Stilt Theatre flew over the festival with all of the visitors' wishes and sent the ‘White Ravens’ out to all corners of Bavaria.

Over five days, eleven authors from eight countries travelled to schools, libraries, bookshops and even a juvenile detention centre to read from their books for children and young people, lead workshops or talk about themselves and their work in panel discussions. 
The festival offers space for renowned, award-winning authors as well as for new literary discoveries and creates a bridge between cultures with its German and international programme. The focus is on encounters between the international guests and the mostly young audience.

In the International Youth Library, “White Ravens” has for many years described exceptional and innovative children's and young adult books from all over the world that stand for quality in terms of language, content and art and are outstanding examples of a country's children's literary culture. Many ‘White Ravens’ titles provide inspiration, set new trends and deal with topics that concern children and young people. And they do so with surprising twists, a unique tone and unusual images.

The following guests were present:

Ximo Abadía, Spain | Mo Abbas, France | Sabine Bohlmann, Germany | Flix, Germany | Johannes Herwig, Germany | Emma Karinsdotter, Sweden | Martine Letterie, Netherlands | Kairi Look, Estonia | Abdi Nazemian, USA | Anja Reumschüssel, Germany | Irene Sarmiento, Philippines

We would like to thank all authors, publishers, co-operation partners and sponsors, all schools, teachers and of course the children and young people for a wonderful festival week!

The next White Ravens Festival will take place in July 2027!

You can find all the latest information on this homepage or at www.ijb.de/en