Summer is bidding farewell, but there was no sign of the cold at the international literature festival in Berlin. Daniel Schreiber and Olivia Laing warmed hearts with their event “Meeting in the Lonely City”. Both agree: “There is a kind of loneliness that is absolutely necessary for writing.”
Another highlight: Haji Jabir celebrated his German premiere of “Black Foam”. His main character changes names, identities and religions in order to escape a dark past. Jabir put it in a nutshell: “The whole text is based on lies.”
Erikson Pasaribu also touched the audience with Happy Stories, Mostly, and said poignantly: “Being queer in Indonesia feels like being under a microscope all the time.”
Finally, the writers’ collective Wu Ming presented its German premiere of “UFO 78”.
