Dear Audience,
What does the ilb mean to you? Many of you have been with us for years – some since the very beginning. Are there moments you still talk about? Readings that moved or touched you? Which evenings, which authors or discussions have stayed with you over time?
As we prepare to celebrate our 25 years of the ilb, we’d love to collect your stories. We warmly invite you to share the memories and moments that shaped your festival experience with us. Click HERE to send us your favorite story.
Nobel laureate Herta Müller returns to the ilb this year for the fifth time. Memory stands at the heart of her acclaimed novel »The Hunger Angel« (2009, tr. Philip Boehm), in which she gives voice to lives stripped of dignity. »Everything I have, I carry with me,« her narrator reflects – a line that has become emblematic of the novel. On September 17, the ilb invites you to an evening with the author, who will reflect on the many layers of her powerful work in conversation with literary scholar Norbert Otto Eke.
Another Nobel Prize laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah first joined us in 2022 with his novel »Afterlives«, a poignant exploration of East Africa’s entanglement with German colonial rule – an unflinching reflection on personal and historical wounds and the perspectives of white Europeans. »My father didn’t want me.« That single sentence captures the trauma of his protagonist Salim with striking clarity. In a conversation titled »The Art of Writing«, Gurnah will speak with Bachmann Prize winner Sharon Dodua Otoo about the literary influences that shaped him, and the recurring themes of his work: exile, migration, colonial continuities – and writing as both political and poetic practice.
Tickets for these events – as well as for selected others – are already available HERE (click link).
We can’t wait to welcome you, to exchange ideas and, of course, to celebrate together!
Warm regards,
Lavinia Frey and the entire ilb team