Programme of the 9th international literature festival berlin 2009

Fri, 11.09. at 3 pm, JSA Berlin
Specials_Literature Behind Bars
PRESENTER: Martin Jankowski
Wilfried N’Sondé (Germany/Congo) discusses his award-winning début novel Das Herz der
Leopardenkinder (2007, t: The Heart of the Leopard’s Children) with incarcerated youths. Closed
event. Registration by fax: 030 27 87 86 85
Fri, 11.09. at 6 pm, Haus der Berliner Festspiele / Side Stage
Specials
Oulipo: Le Tellier, Roubaud, Monk, Forte, Salon, Bénabou (France)
PRESENTER: Jürgen Ritte
The Oulipo writer’s group − Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle (“workshop for potential literature") −
was founded by François Le Lionnais und Raymond Queneaus in 1960. Their goal is to expand the
possibilities of language through the use of formal constraints. It was to this end that Georges
Perec wrote a novel in which the letter “e” never appears. The “Oulipians” are coming together at
this year’s ilb to present their philosophy of literary language mathematics − and to read.
Fri, 11.09. at 6 pm, Haus der Berliner Festspiele / Upper Foyer
Focus Arab World
Iraqi Traumas
PRESENTER: Andreas Pflitsch SPEAKER: Roland Schäfer
Ali Bader (Iraq/Jordan). He achieved international fame in 2001 with his first novel Bābā Sārtir (t:
Papa Sartre). The novel is a satirical assessment of Iraqi intellectuals and their helpless imitations
of French existentialism. His novel al-Hāris at-tabaġ (2008, t: The guardian of tobacco) illuminates
cultural life in Iraq following the invasion of the US troops.
Jabbar Yassin Hussein (Iraq/France). The author deals in his texts with the traumatic experience
of exile, and the loss of home and identity: “I wrote to remind myself of what I had left behind.” He
will read from Le songe de l’officier américain (t: The American officer’s dream).
Fri, 11.09. at 7 pm, Babylon
Kaleidoscope
Judith Hermann (Germany)
PRESENTER: Knut Elstermann
Her first, melancholy-toned collection, Summerhouse, Later: Stories helped spark a renaissance of
the short story in Germany. Hermann’s spare, clear narratives belong to the tradition of Anton
Chekhov and Raymond Carver and give voice to the restless, uncertain attitude of a whole
generation. In Alice, the author presents five “atmospheric yet compelling and masterfully written
stories of death and the experience of loss,” according to the Jury of the Friedrich-Hölderlin Prize.
Fri, 11.09. at 7 pm, Collegium Hungaricum Berlin
Reflections
Barack Obama: the first months of his presidency
Discussion with Sinan Antoon (USA/Iraq), Michael Krüger (Germany), Pankaj Mishra (India) and
Eliot Weinberger (USA)
PRESENTER: Hans Christoph Buch
As of January 20 , 2009, Barack Obama has been the first black President of the United States.
“Yes, we can”: Obama rose with the promise of change. How much change has he brought about
after nine months in office? This will be discussed by US-Iraqi Sinan Antoon, particularly
knowledgeable in the area of contemporary Arabic culture and politics, Michael Krüger, German
publisher of Obama’s autobiography The Audacity of Hope (2006), the Indian writer Pankaj Michra
and the New York essayist Eliot Weinberger.
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