Copenhagen International Literature Festival is all about cutting edge quality. It is a unique presentation of quality fiction and poetry staged in readings, conversations, drama, music, documentaries, and film.

History
CPH:LITT was launched in 2008. The driving force behind the initiative was Danish publisher Per Kofod along with a sizeable group of artists and other actors in the cultural field. The objective was to build a platform – based on a love of quality literature – upon which excellent literature could be presented and discussed, made visible and distributed.
The festival opened in 2008 in Huset in Magstræde in central Copenhagen with more than 100 Danish and international artists appearing. Since then the festival has featured more than 350 writers and other artists who have performed on seven different stages in the heart of Copenhagen.

Writers
In the first three years CPH:LITT has been visited by the following internationally renowned authors: Salman Rushdie (UK), Paul Auster (US), Siri Hustvedt (US), Xiaolu Guo (KI), Tabish Khair (IN), Celiné Curiol (FR), Daniel Kehlmann (D), Sjón (IS), Hallgrimur Helgason (IS), Åsne Seierstad (N), Tomas Espedal (N), Erlend Loe (N), Daniel Sjölin (S), Mara Lee (S), Agneta Pleijel (S), Danuté Kalinauskaité (LT), among others.
From the Danish literary scene the festival has been favoured with appearances from Naja Marie Aidt, Morten Ramsland, Jens Smærup Sørensen, Benny Andersen, Carsten Jensen, Ib Michael, Jørgen Leth, Helle Helle, Christina Hesselholdt, Kirsten Hammann, Pia Tafdrup, Dy Plambeck, Merete Pryds Helle, Søren Ulrik Thomsen, Peter Laugesen, Suzanne Brøgger, Jens Chr. Grøndahl, Claus Beck-Nielsen, Thomas Boberg, Erling Jepsen, Knud Romer Jørgensen, Thomas Winding, Ursula Andkjær Olsen, Pia Juul, Josefine Klougart, Janne Teller, Lone Hørslev, Kirsten Thorup, and others.

Stage performances
A unique characteristic of CPH:LITT has been the attempt, in collaboration with the visiting authors, to provide the audience with insight into the individual writers’ tool boxes, as it were, including information on the sources of the writers’ narrative style and technique. Additionally, the festival has made an effort to present quality literature via drama, film, and music. Thus, in the first three years the festival has also been visited by a number of musicians, playwrights, actors, and movie people.
Parts of the previous festivals have been recorded for television and radio or transformed into audio files for download. Through collaboration with DR, the Danish national broadcasting corporation, CPH:LITT strives to become a literature festival for the entire nation.

Organization
CPH:LITT’s advisory board consists of Per Kofod, Helvinn Høst, Christian Have, Steffen Bruun, and Bjørn Otto. The festival’s programme planning committee consists of Ivan Rod (festival director), Louise Øhrstrøm, Simon Hastrup, Marie Vinter, and Rasmus Navntoft.