24th ilb
5 – 14 Sep 2024 Program
9 – 18 Sep 2024 Young Program

Postsoviet Cosmopolis – Generation Independence. Jānis Joņevs: Doom 94 / Aram Pachyan: P/ F

22. internationales literaturfestival berlin [© Hartwig Klappert]
22. internationales literaturfestival berlin [© Hartwig Klappert]

Jānis Joņevs debut »Doom 94«, about a youth in 1990s Latvia, became a bestseller. The coming-of-age novel is about a boy who grows up in the provincial town of Jelgava, first discovers Nirvana, then the metal scene, and makes new friends at music swap meet-ups and concerts in abandoned bunkers. Joņevs draws the portrait of a generation in search of its own identity and wanting to be part of a youth culture.

Aram Pachyan sets out in search of a new style of fragmentary narration with the experimental novel »P/F«. The old and the new Yerevan, the Getar river, the vanished streetcar, and a lonely man trying to find himself in the city of his fading memories – they all meet in the novel. Jānis Joņevs and Aram Pachyan exchange ideas about writing after independence. Both authors have received the European Union Prize for Literature for their works.

Moderation: Sona Mnatsakanyan
Speaker: Paul Walther
Languages: Armenian, English

A cooperation with the Cluster of Excellence »Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective« at Freie Universität Berlin

Remaining tickets may be available at the box office.