All posts by Melanie Arns

“Quo vadis, world of language?” Evening events on the 23rd and 24th of January 2015

Friday, the 23rd of January and Saturday, the 24th of January, 8pm, free entrance
Lettrétage, Mehringdamm 61, 10961 Berlin

What fascinates us in texts? How do we make literature glow? When does the spark ignite? Quo vadis, world of language?

The self-starting network in the European independent literary scene CROWD invited exciting, impulse giving literary activists from the UK, Serbia, Italy, Latvia, Cyprus, Finland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Iceland to Berlin, to discuss all their different ideas of literature during a two day conference.

During the evening events CROWD will present the Berliner public texts of contemporary authors from all over Europe: Aesthetic fascination and political discussion potential make a diverse picture of contemporary European literature tangible. Texts that pulsate here and today in the truth of the present. Texts that show us why it is worth to formulate again and again literature as an invitation to discuss.

Lily Michaelides (Cyprus), Max Höfler (Austria), Laura Serkosalo (Finland), Ana Pejović (Serbia), Ondřej Buddeus (Czech Republic), Andrea Inglese (Italy/France), Valgerdur Thoroddsdottir (Iceland), Inga Bodnarjuka (Latvia) and Steven Fowler (UK) will read and discuss.

Photo by Ulrike Techert

Corina Bernic

In a statement about her work as a Romanian culture-manager Corina Bernic submited, that the partnership between private and public institutions was negatively affected. The private initiative of young Romanian culture-organizers often failed just for that reason.

Does the collaboration between private and public institutions work well in Germany? How is the situation in other countries? What could be better?

Photo by Privat

Alexander Filyuta – organizer of ausland

ausland is a non-commercially run venue in berlin for music and performance and related public and non-public events. ausland is also a workspace for local, national and international artists and projects.

Alexander Filyuta organizes together with Tobias Herold the series “Lyrik im ausland

Astrid Kaminski wrote in the Berliner Zeitung: The selforganized place of event “ausland” has become one of the favourite pub of contemporary poets. Here party and poetry don’t disagree.

The poetry exhibition “What’s the point of poetry?” trys to give answers to questions like: “What does poetry communicate, what messages and demands do the poets involved have for their societies, and what does the idea of ‘home’ mean to each of them?”

What’s the point if it is nothing of all? Like a rose is a rose is a rose.

Does a poet have responsibility for the society?

 

Vera Kurlenina: co-worker at Hochroth Berlin

hochroth considers itself a pilot project in the alternative publishers scene.

2014 – Hochroth’s 5th year:

Érica Zíngano with Vera Kurlenina (translation of Odile Kennel) are reading the rosa Version der Bücher “Ich weiß nicht warum”

Hochroth’s 6th birthday at lettrétage

How is it possible to combat the trend of leading publishing houses, which canceled important poetry series?

How can we combine digital and handmade  bookmaking? Is the combination necessary at all?

Photo by hochroth

Moritz Malsch…

… is publisher of Verlag Lettrétage

The publishing house doesn’t want to be avers to new ways of presenting literature, although it sees the “traditional” book as a priority  for now.

Soundout is also a current project of Moritz Malsch. It is the proof, that he is not avers to new ways!   🙂

What are your ideas and new ways of presenting literature?

 

 

Amanda DeMarco – New German Fiction

Amanda De Marco (Readux, Germany)

New German Fiction is …

“…Young German writers are heavily influenced by English-language literature, and their daily interactions and media consumption often mix English and German seamlessly. But this is largely a one-way exchange. Translation into English, particularly of contemporary authors, is notoriously lacking—and when it does happen, then often years after the original publication. This contest seeks not only to translate highly deserving texts, but to do so in a timeframe that does justice to the robust evolution of German literary culture. This is about facilitating a conversation, not an echo.”

How could the exchange also between further languages and countries be extended?

Photo by gezett.de

 

Jennifer Bode “U30 – New Literature for Berlin”

“U30 – Neue Literatur für Berlin“ was founded at the beginning of 2013 and has always been dedicated to promoting the work of young authors. For each reading, five authors under the age of 30 are selected to present their prose in front of a larger audience.

Elisabeth Botros und Jennifer Bode (v.l.) help young authors and good texts to reach a larger audience.

For those among you, who are proficient in German: Read the whole article

How could talented young people be animated to write and to  publish literary texts? How is it possible for unknown authors to reach an iterested audience – also abroad?

Photo by Johannes Schmitz