Programme of the 9th international literature festival berlin 2009

Mon, 14.09. at 7 pm, Collegium Hungaricum Berlin
Kaleidoscope
Péter Nádas (Hungary)
PRESENTER: Lothar Müller
The author and photographer is one of Hungarian contemporary literature's greats. His Book of
Memories was hailed as an era-defining novel and has been compared to the works of Proust and
Musil. He will read from “Die Bibel” (The Bible), his first published work, written in 1965. In the
story, the then 23-year-old writer anticipated what would become one of his major themes: a child's
attempts to cope with life under Stalin. The protagonist, the son of a high-level functionary, vents
his sadistic tendencies on a maid from the countryside. When he finds a bible in his parents'
bookcase and rips it to pieces in front of the incensed young girl, the conflict begins in earnest.
With support from the Lelbach Foundation.
Mon, 14.09. at 7 pm, Institut français de Berlin
Speak, Memory
François Marie Arouet Voltaire (Paris 1694 − Paris 1778)
INTRODUCTION: Hartmut Diekmann, SPEAKERS: Nadja Schulz-Berlinghoff, Frank Arnold
The fact that Voltaire was born and died in Paris says a lot about Paris, but nothing at all against
Voltaire’s tempestuous, modern life: the Jesuit student’s sharp tongue got him beaten and thrown
in the Bastille, but it also led to many experiences abroad, from which he always returned, inspired,
to France, the country he mistrusted. The Marquise du Châtelet provided him with an
extraordinarily creative home environment for over 16 years, in which the drama Mahomet was
written.
Mon, 14.09. at 7 pm, Kleisthaus
Kaleidoscope
Luis Leante (Spain): See How Much I Love You
PRESENTER: Martin Jankowski, SPEAKER: Tatiana Nekrasov
“A beautiful love story filled with impressive landscape imagery that grips the reader from the first
page,” is how Mario Vargas Llosa praised See How Much I Love You, Luis Leante’s novel, which
won the 2007 Premio Alfaguara. A strange coincidence leads Montse to search for her childhood
love Santiago, who is believed to have died – an adventurous trip through the deserts of the
Sahara begins. – Admission is free.
Mon, 14.09. at 7 pm, Helene Nathan Bibliothek Neukölln
Focus Arab World
Youssef Bazzi
PRESENTER: Sven Arnold, SPEAKER: Stella Hilb
In Yassir Arafat Looked at Me and Smiled a young boy reports how he was recruited into the
Lebanese Civil War, where he fought and killed. All the while he goes about his normal life, goes to
school, and has his first encounters with girls, pornography and alcohol. Violence as an everyday
phenomenon leaves him cold, and war has become a game. Admission is free.
Mon, 14.09. at 7:30 pm, Haus der Berliner Festspiele / Main Stage
Specials
Richard David Precht (Germany)
PRESENTER: Christine Eichel
Philosopher, author and publicist Richard David Precht, who lives in Cologne and Luxembourg,
became known to a wide audience with his bestseller Wer bin ich – und wenn ja wie viele? (Who
am, I – and if so, how many?). He has addressed his new book Liebe. Ein unordentliches Gefühl
(Love. An untidy feeling) at all those “who don't trust the advice of love experts, but still want to
know what love is all about.”
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