Programme of the 9th international literature festival berlin 2009

Almost half a century lies between Kjell Askildsen’s début and the publication of Ingrid Z.
Aanestad’s first novel. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the great master of Norwegian literature
chose the young author for this double reading. By the time her second novel Eg kjem med toget (t:
I Will Come By Train) was published, she had been widely recognised as one of her country's
greatest new talents. Both authors are celebrated by critics for their sparse, clear language, which
even in its minimalism can be poetic and/or comical. There will be a reception in the Felleshus
foyer after the readings. – Admission is free.
Tues, 15.09. at 8 pm, Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Focus Arab World
Assia Djebar (Algeria) is welcomed by Navid Kermani and Terézia Mora
The “Literary Salon” at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, to which Navid Kermani and Terézi Mora
invite international authors, begins with the renowned Algerian writer Assia Djebar. The subjects
are texts, words, books, and writing. There will be readings from Assia Djebar’s novel Nulle part
dans la maison de mon père (2008, t: Nowhere in my father’s house), but also from texts which
move and have moved Djebar and will open her writer’s cosmos to the Salon audience. Admission
€8.00 / reduced €6.00
Tues, 15.09. at 8 pm, Radialsystem
Specials
Christina Weiss in conversation with Ingo Metzmacher
Curtain! Discovering and experiencing opera – Ingo Metzmacher’s new book will be presented The
conductor draws us in a highly entertaining and personal manner into the lively world of opera,
which has fascinated people for centuries. Why has it lost none of its fascination to this day? What
is the source of this irresistible magic? And what can music tell us that words cannot? No-one is
better qualified to write about this than Ingo Metzmacher, who has worked as a conductor for more
than 20 years and has collaborated with the most important singers and directors. Curtain!
Discovering and experiencing opera is being presented for the first time. Admission €8.00 /
reduced €6.00
Tues, 15.09. at 8 pm, Literaturhaus Berlin
Kaleidoscope
Michael Greenberg (USA)
PRESENTER: Marie Luise Knott, SPEAKER: Sven Phillip
Greenberg was born in New York in 1952. He will read from his column, which he has been writing
for the London-based Times Literary Supplement since 2003. These anecdotal short stories have
been compiled in his autobiography Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life (2009). The book is
populated by strange characters, and the tumultuous big city life of New York gives it a vivacious,
pulsating atmosphere.
Tues, 15.09. at 8:30 pm, Maxim Gorki Theater / Studio stage
Speak, Memory
Of gardens, heroes, and wine – Medieval Arabic poetry
INTRODUCTION: Isabel Toral-Niehoff and Peter Pökel, SPEAKER: Burghart Klaußner
Without Friedrich Rückert’s translations we would know nothing of the wealth and diversity of
medieval Arabic literature. Inspired by his voluminous work, we can now hear the song of praise to
the hero on his camel, worship of the city of Baghdad as the fulfilment of yearning for Paradise –
and marvel at the Orient's “songs of feasting, drinking, and Venus.”
Tues, 15.09. at 9 pm, Haus der Berliner Festspiele / Main Stage
Kaleidoscope
Helmut Krausser (Germany)
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