European Borderlands: Revolution and Literature 1989-2009
Berlin and Leipzig 2009

In autumn, the 20th anniversary of the events of 1989 is being marked. For this reason, the Allianz Culture Foundation and the Literary Colloquium Berlin have invited authors from different European countries within their mutual project European Borderlands. These authors are now going to take a look at the European turn of eras in public events, and will especially discuss the role of the writer in this context. Authors are being invited who are immediate contemporary witnesses of the separation as well as the reunification of East and West, and whose experiences reach from the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the Iron Curtain to the Eastern enlargement of the European Union: Volker Braun, György Dragomán, Ilma Rakusa, Jaroslav Rudiš and Olga Tokarczuk.

On Monday, March 9th, the relationship between literature and politics shall be commented on during a penal discussion at the Allianz Stiftungsforum Pariser Platz in Berlin. The evening kicks off with a reading from texts written by Volker Braun in the year of 1989. Subsequent to the reading, the authors discuss the fall of the Berlin wall and the political, societal, and cultural breaks which followed in Europe. The discussion is moderated by the literary critic and author Jörg Magenau.

Monday, March 9th 2009, 8:00 pm, Allianz Stiftungsforum, Pariser Platz 6, 10117 Berlin
Reading Volker Braun (Germany) and penal discussion with György Dragomán (Hungary), Jaroslav Rudiš (Czech Republic) and Olga Tokarczuk (Poland)
Moderation: Jörg Magenau

Subsequently, the authors are being invited to the Leipzig book fair, where they can deepen their contacts to translators, publishers, other authors, as well as press representatives.
On Saturday, March 14th, the authors present their work in a joint final reading (shortly in their native language, then in translation) at the naTo in downtown Leipzig:

Saturday, March 14th 2009, 9.30 pm, naTo, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 46, 04275 Leipzig
Final Reading European Borderlands: Revolution and Literature 1989-2009
Moderation: Jörg Magenau
9:30 – 10:00 pm Ilma Rakusa reads from Durch Schnee – ‘Through the Snow’ (Suhrkamp 2006)
10:00 – 11:30 pm Jaroslav Rudiš reads from Grand Hotel (Luchterhand 2008)
10:30 – 11:00 pm György Dragomán reads from Der weiße König – ‘The White King’ (Suhrkamp 2008) Reading of the German translation: Ulrich Janetzki
11:00 – 11:30 pm Olga Tokarczuk reads from Unrast – ‘Restlessness’ (Schöffling 2009) Reading of the German translation: Susanne Bolf)