The photographer and writer witnessed the Russian attack on Ukraine from its beginning until she left for Germany in early April 2022. During the day, she roamed the streets of Kyiv, documenting people’s daily lives in diary entries and photographs – deliberately refusing to use polarizing war language. »When I
Canadian journalist Matthieu Aikins is known for his war reporting from Afghanistan and has been awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize. In 2016, he accompanied a young Afghan fleeing to Europe and wrote a book about what he witnessed, »The Naked Don’t Fear the Water«. The Afghan writer Taqi Akhlaqi, the
The artistic and educational remembrance project will be presented by its founder, Maaza Mengiste: The project consists of photographs of people during the war between Ethiopia and Italy from 1935 to 1941, some of which come from the private collection of Maaza Mengiste, whose novel »The Shadow King« tells the
To kick off the series »Not Dead But Dreaming: Focus on Contemporary Arabic Literature«, the novelist and screenwriter, who has been nominated several times for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, will present his latest novel for the first time in Berlin. In it, Khalifa weaves a hundred years of
Zadie Smith, »one of the most important literary voices of our time« [WELT], has most recently published »Intimations«, a volume of essays from the first months of the corona lockdown. In conversation with Daniel Kehlmann, she discusses the power of literary essay writing and the tension between private and public
Bernardine Evaristo, who in 2019 became the first Black writer to win the Booker Prize, tells of her life in her memoir that is »racy and funny, brute and touching, mostly self-deprecating and above all: uninhibitedly honest« [DIE ZEIT]. The formative influence of theatre on her as a teenager and
In his latest work, David Van Reybrouck reconstructs the decolonization of Indonesia through a combination of historical interpretation and interviews with witnesses from around the world. Indonesia’s struggle for independence was followed by many other countries in Asia, Africa, and the Arab world – leading to profound, global changes. Moderation:
Reading as part of the Worldwide Reading of Ukrainian Literature initiated by the ilb. Excerpts will be read from the war diaries written since February 24, 2022 by Serhij Zhadan, Yuriy Gurzhy, Yuri Durkot and Oleh Kozarev. Moderation: Barbara Wahlster
This epistolary novel by the grande dame of Italian literature is set in 1743, when the plague ravaged Sicily. Two friends write to each other about the horrors they experience. Meanwhile, the husband of one friend, who also loves the other, travels back and forth between the two. »Trio« is
This highly poetic and socially critical novel intertwines different time levels and plot lines: present-day Slovenia, texts by prisoners from the Yugoslav war, an emerging novel about war-ravaged Europe in the 18th century, and diary entries by prisoners in a writing class. »A book set in a European future, but
The ceremonial Opening of the 22nd international literature festival berlin. Writer, playwright, historian, and journalist David Van Reybrouck has received multiple awards for his ground-breaking work »Congo: A History«. The book »Revolusi: Indonesia and the Making of the Modern World« on the beginning of the decolonization in Indonesia was recently
