German Reading Competition

In Germany, the Nationwide Reading Day has been celebrated every November for over ten years. Readings take place in various locations such as kindergartens, schools, libraries, museums, shops, and parks. People of all ages read from their favorite books or from currently discussed works.

At the Goethe-Institut Korea, we invite you to a reading competition on November 19, 2026. The competition is for German learners with no prior or very short stay abroad in Germany.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Rainer Maria Rilke, this year's reading competition will feature five carefully selected poems by the poet. Through these readings, we would like to commemorate one of the most important German-language lyric poets and honor his literary legacy.

The best readers will be rewarded with attractive prizes. All interested language course participants at the Goethe-Institut, students of German studies, and literatur and lzyric e enthusiasts are warmly invited to participate.

To apply for the reading competition, please follow these steps:

1. Qualification Round: Please send the following registration by Monday, November 2. Afterwards, submit a video by Monday, November 9, to qualify for one of the competitions.
2. You will receive the reading text via email shortly after registration. Send us a video of yourself reading a short excerpt from the competition text via email to bibliothek-seoul@goethe.de by Monday, November 9. The video should not be longer than one minute.
3. The results of the qualification round will be communicated to participants on Friday, November 13, via email.
4. The selected candidates will compete in the reading competition at the Goethe-Institut library on Thursday, November 19.

We are happy to answer any questions regarding the competition.