Lisbon will become a meeting point for some of the most influential voices in publishing, culture and public life on September 15 and 16, 2026, as the fourth edition of BOOK 2.0 – The Future of Reading takes place at the Belém Cultural Centre. Under the theme “Back to Basics, Back to Books,” the conference returns to a deceptively simple question: what place should books and reading occupy in a world transformed by technology, fractured attention and rapidly changing habits of consuming knowledge?
Organised by the Portuguese Publishers and Booksellers Association (APEL), BOOK 2.0 looks beyond the publishing industry itself to consider reading as a social, cultural and civic force. Its discussions will explore how books intersect with education, culture, the economy and wellbeing, while confronting questions that increasingly define the literary landscape, from copyright and artificial intelligence to freedom of expression, democracy and the policies needed to sustain stronger reading cultures.
Among the figures taking part are Portuguese President António José Seguro, former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Cardinal and author José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, and Markus Dohle, former CEO of Penguin Random House. Across a programme of conversations and debates, speakers will examine subjects including reading and democracy, the knowledge economy, the battle for attention, digital transformation and the changing ways in which readers discover books in the age of artificial intelligence.
Now in its fourth edition, BOOK 2.0 is positioning itself as an international forum for thinking seriously about the future of the written word and the ecosystems that sustain it. By bringing together publishers, writers, researchers, policymakers and readers, the conference seeks to move the conversation beyond questions of format and technology towards the enduring value of reading itself: as a source of knowledge, a foundation for critical thought and a means of strengthening freedom, imagination and social cohesion.
