The world is on fire. Wars are being fought on battlefields and in headlines. Democracies are being stress-tested. Truth is under siege. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, the stories that could actually help us understand what’s happening are struggling to be heard.
This is exactly why ZEG exists.
ZEG Storytelling Festival returns for its sixth edition this summer uniting storytellers, thinkers, and makers from across disciplines and continents for conversations that challenge assumptions, reshape perspectives, and forge connections that long outlast the weekend.
The sixth edition takes place June 19–21, featuring intimate conversations, thought-provoking panels, film screenings, performances, workshops, walking tours, and more.
Among more than 100 speakers are: Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer and one of the most essential writers on war, memory and displacement. David Belt, a maverick developer who turned a century-old Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse into Newlab and who was named one of New York’s 50 most powerful people in tech. Karen Hao, the journalist whose book Empire of AI is reshaping how the world understands who actually controls the AI revolution. Zelda Perkins, Harvey Weinstein’s former assistant whose decade-long campaign against abusive NDAs has now changed British law. Kumi Naidoo, South African human rights activist who organized school boycotts against apartheid at 15, led both Greenpeace and Amnesty, and has never stopped making trouble, most recently through his “artivism” movement. Michael Barenboim, violinist, concertmaster of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and advocate for Palestinian rights. Leopoldo López, the Venezuelan opposition leader who spent years in Maduro’s prison and has since built a global movement of people who refuse to accept that autocracy wins.
ZEG is not a conference. It’s a community. Returning this year: Bao Nguyen, Emmy-nominated filmmaker behind Be Water and The Greatest Night in Pop, whose latest film, The Stringer, investigates the contested authorship of the most iconic photograph of the Vietnam War. Julie Posetti, one of the world’s leading disinformation researchers now directing the Information Integrity Initiative at Maria Ressa’s TheNerve. Rachel Corp, CEO of ITN, who went from hitching a ride into war-torn Bosnia as a student freelancer to running one of Britain’s most trusted news organisations. Jake Friedman, creative entrepreneur who launched his own record label at 19 and has spent his career connecting music, theatre, and film in ways that remind us why the creative industries still matter. Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker staff writer and one of the great living war correspondents, who has reported from virtually every major conflict of the past four decades. Razia Iqbal, one of the most distinctive voices in global broadcasting who has interviewed everyone from Toni Morrison to Ai Weiwei. More speakers to be announced.
Partners: TBC Concept, UN Women, Tegeta, Volvo, Coca-Cola, AI Collaborative, The European Union, OHCHR, ALTA, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Georgia, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Tbilisi, betsson.sport, Adjara Group, Honore, TKT.GE
Media Partners: BPN, AT.ge, Georgia Today, OK Magazine, What About Georgia
Tickets available here: https://www.zegfest.com/tickets
Find more info about the festival here: https://www.zegfest.com
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.zegfest.com/sign-up
Find Us on Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, TikTok
