{"id":98569,"date":"2026-06-30T11:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T09:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/literaturfestival.com\/?post_type=events&#038;p=98569"},"modified":"2026-09-02T18:38:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T16:38:01","slug":"festival-opening","status":"publish","type":"events","link":"https:\/\/literaturfestival.com\/en\/events\/festival-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"Festival Opening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Welcoming Address: <\/strong>Matthias Pees (Director Haus der Berliner Festspiele)<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Introduction:<\/strong> Lavinia Frey (Director ILB)<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Greetings: <\/strong>Boualem Sansal (Patron of the 26th ILB)<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Opening Speech: <\/strong>\u00bbSeptember\u00ab Jeet Thayil (Curator in Residence)<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With musical accompaniment by the ILB House Band<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What can literature accomplish in turbulent times? Jeet Thayil speaks about the role it plays for humanity in expanding horizons and perspectives to help us navigate historical and present-day uncertainties. He suggests: \u00abA song, a poem, a story, a painting, an idea can lift us out of ourselves and enable us to see who we are and where we\u2019re from\u00bb.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The event will be held in German, English, and French, with projected translations and simultaneous interpretation from German into English.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With interpretation by Tuesday Bhambry.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Curator in Residence Program is made possible by the LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"template":"","tags":[1008,1157],"jtc-program-language":[1137,1138,1136],"jtc-program-marketing-segment":[1149],"jtc-program-format":[1032],"jct-program-kjlgrade":[],"jct-program-properties":[],"jct-program-days":[821],"jct-program-locations":[847,1113],"jct-program-categories":[796],"class_list":["post-98569","events","type-events","status-publish","hentry","tag-curator-in-residence-en","tag-rhythm-writing","jtc-program-language-english","jtc-program-language-french","jtc-program-language-german","jtc-program-marketing-segment-stimulierung","jtc-program-format-opening","jct-program-days-day-01","jct-program-locations-haus-der-berliner-festspiele-en","jct-program-locations-grosse-buehne","jct-program-categories-evening-program"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Festival Opening &#8211; international literature festival berlin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/literaturfestival.com\/en\/events\/festival-opening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Festival Opening &#8211; international literature festival berlin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcoming Address: Matthias Pees (Director Haus der Berliner Festspiele) Introduction: Lavinia Frey (Director ILB) Greetings: Boualem Sansal (Patron of the 26th ILB) Opening Speech: \u00bbSeptember\u00ab Jeet Thayil (Curator in Residence) With musical accompaniment by the ILB House Band What can literature accomplish in turbulent times? 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