A woman named Velia writes letters about returning to her homeland, Chocó – blurring the line between author and character. Vidal writes about the impact of community, the power of storytelling, and what it feels like to return home to a place that is both close and distant. In conversation
»Exile is the land of in-between« [Ilija Trojanow]. What happens to writing when home and familiar surroundings are suddenly out of reach? Taqi Akhlaqi, Alhierd Bacharevič, und Stella Nyanzi were all forced into exile for political reasons. In this conversation, they speak about searching for stability and of exploring longing
Women’s Rights Are Human Rights. Across the globe, women in authoritarian regimes like Iran and Belarus risk their lives fighting for equality and freedom. Meanwhile, in democratic countries, a social media trend is reviving an ultra-conservative ideal of womanhood: children, kitchen, church. Journalist Shila Behjat speaks with Iranian author Aliyeh
When 38-year-old actress Sonia visits her family in Haifa after years in London, she realizes the complexity of her relationship with Palestine. She meets a theater director and joins a production of Hamlet in the West Bank, but rehearsals are overshadowed by Israeli checkpoints and arrests, part of the daily
After a radiological incident, systems begin to falter. A group resists – through ritual, movement, and music. Based on the story »You Glow in the Dark« by the Bolivian writer Liliana Colanzi, Compañía La Soledad presents a dense, interdisciplinary performance exploring fear, control, and persistence – and the paradox of
How do you bid a final farewell to your parents? A son – a world-famous writer – accompanies his dying father, a passionate smoker and gardener, through his final months. Even gravely ill, he continues to sow and weed. His garden in a Bulgarian village outlives him. With this homage
Language creates reality – words shape our thinking, metaphors shift meanings, and terms can shape or distort entire world views. The translator Olivier Mannoni has intensively examined the destructive power of language in his translation of Hitler’s »Mein Kampf«. In conversation with journalist Nikolaus Blome and philosopher Tim Henning, he
With projects worldwide and her own Netflix series, Céline Wachowski is posed to reach the pinnacle of her career as an architect. But her first major project in Montréal turns into a disaster: gentrification, social coldness, public protest. After her fall as CEO, the question arises: what stories do the
»Literature Behind Bars« is an annual event organized by the ilb that brings renowned authors and their work into Berlin prisons. This year, Anton Weil will read from his debut novel »Super einsam« [tr. Super Lonely] – the story of a son reading the diary of his late mother and
Six astronauts orbit the Earth for 16 days and nights in the ISS, collecting data, observing the weather – and above all, the world. Between glaciers, storms, and quiet beauty, they reflect on loss, connection, and vulnerability, national borders and climate change. In poetic images, Samantha Harvey’s novel, translated by
The ilb is where its audience is this time, in the Vivantes Haupstadtpflege. Hanna Krause’s life spans eras: she grew up in the German Empire, worked as a florist during the Nazi era, and drove a crane in construction in the GDR. Annett Gröschner’s novel shows a Magdeburg that no
An invitation to wander into the vibrant young German literary scene, featuring two powerful debut novels: In the Zurich of »Daily Soap« by Nora Osagiobare, Toni battles racism, migraines, and the madness of her family — »a wild reading pleasure« [SWR2]. Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç’s »Hundesohn« follows Zeko between Berlin and
