News from Berlin

News from Berlin – Arabic poets meet American short story writers; South Korean lyricists encounter their Russian counterparts; and South African novelists meet the Albanian youth. The annually organized International Literature Festival Berlin is the platform that makes all these encounters possible between the 10th and the 21st of September. The festival’s mission is to demonstrate the current diversity of contemporary prose and poetry from all over the world.

160 authors from 53 countries will come to the 14th International Literature Festival to present their books to the audience. The most important sections include Literatures of the World; the International Children and Youth Program; New level, which deals with the connection between computer games and literature; and last but not least the new section: the Cultures of Trust. Within the latter, twenty international authors will present essays in mosques, churches or synagogues for the interested audience. Another focus of the festival is the so-called “investigative journalism”, is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing.

The project “Berlin reads” will continue this year. On the opening day of the festival, 10th of September Berliners are asked to read out a poem or a part of a book they love in different parts of the city: in the U-Bahn, in front of their houses or whatever other location they can just think of. The organizers, just like in the past two years, are planning a large-scale reading performance. The performance will begin at 4 PM and will finish at 5.30, half an hour before the official opening of the festival. The organizers ask potential participants to send their names, the title and author of the books they will read from, the location and time of their “reading performance” and send it until the 5th of September to berlinliest@literaturfestival.com.  

The opening will take place at Haus der Berliner Festspiele in Wilmerdorf where Indian author and publicist Pankaj Mishra will give a presentation “Europe and the new world order” at 6 PM.

News from Berlin – Berlin Global