On September 15, the second-to-last day of the festival, the ilb once again welcomed big literary names and addressed socially relevant issues. Feminist issues in particular found their way onto the ilb stages that day at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Jadwiga Kamola and Tayo Awosusi-Onutor discussed the history of female criminality, Irish author Doireann Ní Ghríofa, accompanied by a reading with Benita Bailey, presented her novel »A Ghost in the Throat« and then spoke about the realities of women in art at »Women as Geniuses and Art Monsters« with Liana Finck.
In the Bornemann Bar, the five winners of the Berliner Festspiele’s »Nahaufnahme« competition, Sorour Keramatboroujeni, Amelie Wernitz, Aline Hafermaas, Fanny Walger and Sven Spaltner, read from their texts.
At the same time, the Afghan writers Homeira Qaderi and Siamak Herawi presented their work on stage and, in conversation with Marie-Christine Knop, gave a moving account of the reality of Afghanistan from their personal and artistic experience. Actor Benito Bause gave voice to the texts’ German translations by Herawi (»Tali Girls«) and Qaderi (»Dancing in the Mosque«) respectively. Afterwards, Homeira Qaderi spoke with Gerald Knaus and Mark Isaacs about the opportunities of humane refugee and migration policies.
Mikhail Zygar talked to Franziska Davies about his work »War and Punishment«.
The evening concluded with the British author Adam Thirlwell in conversation with Daniel Kehlmann and reading by Jennifer Ulrich from his novel »The Future Future« and winner of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize 2023 Dinçer Güçyeter, who presented »Unser Deutschlandmärchen« (Our German Fairy Tale) with Tilla Fuchs.
