A literary mixtape: Side A follows ›Rambo‹, a writer on the cusp of his 30th birthday – caught between self-doubt, dreams, and the demands of a complicated world. Side B brings together seemingly disconnected stories: a shopping list tells of loss, a sofa becomes a landscape of memory, circles of
Is Europe on the brink of war? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has marked a historic turning point. The German military is preparing for a potential state of emergency. According to the Ministry of Defense, it must regain combat readiness to defend NATO territory against a possible attack. How real is
Vierzehn Jahre nach der Nuklearkatastrophe von Fukushima Daiichi erzählt Bea Davies »eindrucksvoll, leicht und dennoch mit ungeheurer erzählerischer Tiefe« [NDR] die Geschichten von acht Menschen aus Japan und Berlin, deren Leben auf eigentümliche Weise durch das Ereignis miteinander verknüpft sind. Mit eindringlichem Schwarz-Weiß-Strich fängt sie die Wucht der Katastrophe und
Cult classics go graphic novel: Veiko Tammjärv has adapted two classic novels into comic format with »The Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel« and »November«. Using a limited color palette and sharp visual language, he depicts Soviet repression, encounters with aliens, thieving barons, and a pact with the devil – grotesque, absurd, and
A young woman is murdered by her ex-partner – a femicide left unpunished. Twenty-nine years later, her sister, author Cristina Rivera Garza, embarks on a literary search for traces. She writes against silence, struggling with language and the bureaucracy of justice. The result is a powerful work about memory, loss,
How does trauma which affects an entire nation find expression in literature? Can literature reveal contradictions, pain, and anger on all fronts, or must it take sides? Can storytelling help heal wounds? Are people not always more than their traumas? Literature shows this when it continues to speak of love,
Roxana Crisólogo and Claudia Ulloa Donoso have moved from Peru to the far north of Scandinavia – to Finland and Norway. They have crossed geopolitical and aesthetic borders, creating genre-defying works that question the status quo. Through poems that take the form of essays, letters, or songs, and novels that
The 1830s in Ours, a town that cannot be found on any map: just north of St. Louis, the mysterious Saint gathers a utopian community to protect themselves from enslavement and violence. Phillip B. Williams’ novel is a »triumph of imagination over bleak reality, of magic over realism, of poetry
The Bernard Heidsieck Literary Prize – Centre Pompidou / Archivio Conz was established in 2017 to honor literary forms beyond the book: sound poetry, performance, film poetry, digital formats, and more. The prize is awarded in two categories: the Prix d’Honneur and the Prix de l’Année. Past laureates include Esther
Poetry Night brings a rich tapestry of voices to the stage – featuring powerful poetic voices from Belarus, Palestine, Greenland, and Germany. Poets read in their native languages; alternating with German-speaking authors who perform their – sometimes festival-exclusive – translations.In Julia Cimafiejeva’s poems, traces of ecological and political violence appear
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
