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

Programmsparten: Reflections

Great Expectations

Conceived as a continuation of his contemporary historical survey »In Europe« [2005], Geert Mak’s current book »Great Expectations« explores the diverse life on a continent stretched to breaking point in a way that is as rich in material as it is full of wit. Has the European dream become a

Das Leben Ist Ein Vorübergehender Zustand

For ten years, journalist and writer Gabriele von Arnim cared for her husband after he suffered two strokes. Although mentally still wide awake, he could no longer communicate with others, walk, read, or write. A sensitive essay about the light and dark moments of their last years together. »It is

Innocence Is The Crime: Francesca Melandri In Workshop Talk

Francesca Melandri, whose German translation of the 2018 novel »Sangue guisto« [tr: Blood Right] spent ten weeks on the »Spiegel« bestseller list, offers insights into her current book project. In it, she continues her examination of the topic of colonialism: from a decidedly European perspective, she takes a look at

Catalonia: Ways Out Of The Dead End: With Javier Cercas

Javier Cercas is a critical observer of Catalonia’s political situation, which is made clear in his latest novels. He gives voice to the silent majority of Catalan civil society that does not identify with secessionist aspirations. The author analyzes independence as a product of populism and sees the future of

Translation. At The Hearth Of Violence

What are the connections between translation and violence? To what extent can translation be an instrument of oppression or, on the contrary, a means of deconstruction and liberation? Class violence, feminism, queerness, postcolonialism: what is at stake in translation? Translators and authors from French and German speaking countries in conversation.

Refugees Worldwide: With Matthias Nawrat And Judith Kuckart

Matthias Nawrat, known for his novel »Der traurige Gast« [tr: The Gloomy Guest], which won the European Union Prize for Literature, and the dancer, choreographer, director, and writer Judith Kuckart wrote literary reports as part of the project »Refugees Worldwide III« in which they describe their encounters with refugees in

In Conversation With Michael Maar: Die Schlange Im Wolfspelz

Michael Maar gets to the bottom of the secret to great literature. Language and thought, syntax and rhythm, metaphors and crimes against style are only a few of the topics discussed and supplemented by an analysis of stylistic subtleties in German-­language literature from Friedrich Schiller to Clemens J. Setz. In

Decolonizing Worlds: Loot ― Booty ― Art

Debates about the political and institutional treatment of colonial looted art have been shaping public discourse for some time. In curatorial practice, too, the necessity of restitution is being discussed, as well as practices of exhibiting objects in new contexts. Götz Aly [historian and author of the bestseller »Das Prachtboot«],

Thilo Sarrazin

born in Gera in 1945, after his studies in Bonn he earned his Ph.D. and became a doctor of Political and Economic Sciences. He has been a member of the SPD since 1973. From 1975 on he was active in various Federal Ministries as a consultant, division head and office