International Literature Festival Berlin

International Literature Festival Berlin

The International Literature Festival Berlin (internationales literaturfestival berlin) is an annual event in Berlin which presents a wide literary variety of contemporary prose and poetry from around the world. The festival is bound to the “Spirit of Sarajevo” evoked in the “Diary of Emigration” by the Bosnian author Dževad Karahasan, who described the besieged town as, “a place in which the various countenances of the earth converge on one point, like diffused rays of light in a prism.”

The literary festival is supposed to give evidence that people from different languages, cultures, and religions, with different backgrounds and traditions can live together and communicate in a peaceful and cooperative way. Every year, more than 120 authors were invited to held readings, discussions and meet the audience.

The first festival took place in 2001 and attracted 6,000 visitors, the last ones more than 30,000 each. The festival combines several sections of programme, such as "Literatures of the World" (authors selected by an international jury), “Kaleidoskop”, “International Children’s and Youth Literature” and some smaller programme sections. The whole festival is accompanied by a comprehensive artistic, cinematic and musical supporting program as well as by a series of political discussions titled “Reflections”.

Amongst the participants of the previous years were:

*Bei Dao (China)
*Inger Christensen (Denmark)
*Péter Esterházy (Hungary)
*Jonathan Safran Foer (USA)
*Jonathan Franzen (USA)
*Nadine Gordimer (South Africa)
*William Gass (USA)
*Tahar Ben Jelloun (Morocco)
*Imre Kertész (Hungary)
*Ko Un (South Korea),
*Antjie Krog] (South Africa)
*Claudio Magris (Italy)
*Kenzaburo Oe (Japan)
*Gore Vidal (USA)
*O. V. Vijayan (India)
*Christa Wolf (Germany)
*Alberto Mussa (Brazil)

elected author’s opinions and press reviews

“I do feel an extraordinary energy here for both – dialogue with the audience and communicationbetween the authors.” Nuruddin Farah, Somalia/South Africa

“The festival provided an opportunity to test ideas and share experiences with writers and thinkers from all over the world. There was more brain power and creative energy in Berlin than perhaps anywhere else in the world during that week! I was glad to be a part of it.”John Prendergast, USA

“Ten days, with more than 320 events in 60 locations across the city, from 9 o’clock in the morning to midnight, over 130 authors from across the world, well over 32 000 visitors, one third of them children and young people. A current advertising campaign may claim that stinginess is sexy. The Literature Festival seduces – without the slightest aristocratic attitude – through abundance.“ Der Tagesspiegel,22.09.2003

“Truer and more beautiful and better than Frankfurt, because there aren’t any deals being done here; it is just literature. Pure.“ Die Zeit, 18.09.2003

“Bubbling unrest, richness and quality, these are the characteristics of the very young international literature festival, that took place for the 4th time in Berlin from the 21st September to 2nd October ... “Le Monde 8.10.2004

External links

http://www.literaturfestival.com Official Festival website


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