Hosts

Georg Aescht, born in Zeiden, Romania, in 1953, taught at a German-speaking grammar school after finishing his own studies in german language and literature and English at the University of Klausenburg/Cluj. In 1984 he migrated with his wife and daughter to Germany, and in 1991 he took on the position of editor of the Bonn Foundation for East German Cultural Counsel, where he edits the »Cultural and Political Correspondence«. Alongside his journalistic activities Aescht has edited and translated books by Banciu, Manea, Naum, Papilian and Sebastian from Romanian and French.

Susan Arndt works as African and literary theorist at the Institute for English and American Studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. She has published works on the themes of intertextuality, oral and written literatures of West Africa, performance and popular culture in Africa, gender, women's literature and feminism in Africa, as well as racism, diaspora and Black Europe. She is currently working on a postdoctoral text on »critical research on being white«.

After an apprenticeship in the book trade Verena Auffermann studied art history. She has since worked as a literary critic, writing for »Zeit«, »Süddeutsche Zeitung«, »Hessischer Rundfunk« and »DeutschlandRadio« among others, and as an author in her own right. Her books include »Nelke und Caruso. Über Hunde. Eine Romanze« and »Das geöffnete Kleid. Von Giorgione zu Tiepolo«. Verena Auffermann was a juror for the Klagenfurt Ingeborg Bachmann Competition for five years. She lives in Berlin.

Radio journalist Silke Behl studied literature and literary theory. She worked at the Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta for five years and since 1991 has been editor of the literature section of »Radio Bremen«. She is one of the cofounders of the Bremen festival »poetry on the road«, on the board of directors of the international organisation »Poets of all Nations« as well as of Bremen's Literaturhaus, and the author of several travel books.

Bas Böttcher, Berlin. Born 1974 in Bremen. Novelist and rap-poet. 1991 founded the band „Zentrifugal“. Multiple winner of the German Poetry Slam Prize (1995-1997). Along with records and anthologies, published the novels “Megaherz“ (2004), “Poetry Clips” (2005), “Dies ist kein Konzert“ (2006).  (www.basboettcher.de)

Marek Spitczok von Brisinski was born in Berlin in 1967, grew up in South Africa and Canada and returned to Berlin in 1991. He here studied sociology and African literature and later taught at the Humboldt and Free Universities of Berlin. He has worked as a freelance translator and as an educator. Through the dramatic arts he has provided a platform for children, young people and adults, to work through their own experiences and histories and, if necessary, to stage conflicts and reflect on them.

Hans Christoph Buch, born in 1944, studied German and Slavic language and literature in Bonn and Berlin. As early as 1963 he read from his work at a get together of Gruppe 47. In 1972 he studied with Walter Höllerer and taught at various universities, among them in Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and the US. The literary theorist, essayist, journalist and storyteller has been interested in the Caribbean sphere since the eighties and in the nineties became known above all for his reportages on African areas in crisis. Hans Christoph Buch was awarded the Prize of the Frankfurt Anthology in 2004. He lives in Berlin.

György Dalos, born in Budapest in 1943, studied at Moscow University but in 1968 was convicted of committing »an offense to the state« and banned from all professions . He worked as a translator (German and Russian) and in the seventies became a involved in the Hungarian opposition. György Dalos received a grant from Berlin's DAAD from 1984 to 1985, and from 1995 to 1999 was director of the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Berlin. He was awarded the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize in 1995.

Ulrike Draesner, born in 1962, studied in Germany and in England. Today she works as a freelance author in Berlin. Her work includes novels, narratives, stories and essays. Her publications include, amongst others, the novel "Mitgift“ (2001), the narrative "Hot Dogs“ (2002), the story "Kugelblitz“ (2005), and the novel "Spiele“ (2005). Draesner has received numerous honours for her work, most notably the "Preis der Literaturhäuser" and the "Droste-Preis".

Katharina Döbler, born in Gunzenhausen, studied theatre. She is the author of radio plays and theatre pieces and an editor at »Le Monde Diplomatique« as well as a literary critic for the »Zeit« and radio. Döbler lives in Berlin.

Knut Elstermann, born in Berlin in 1960, is a journalist, film critic and moderator at »RadioEins«. He has carried out numerous projects for radio and television, among them studies on cinema in Russia and Israel, the DEFA and Babelsberg, Volker Schlöndorff, Konrad Wolf and Andreas Dresen. His book »Gerdas Schweigen« came out in 2005.

Literary scholar György Fehéri was born in 1953, and has lived in Germany since 1983. While working at the Hungarian Cultural Institute, he published mainly essays, criticism, and literary historical works. Fehéri is a frequent contributor to the Hungarian-Jewish newspaper “Múlt és Jövö”.

Following training as a journalist at the Henri Nannen School Caroline Fetscher studied literary theory and psychology in Freiburg and Hamburg. She worked for Greenpeace from 1982 to 1989 (among other things as editor-in-chief of the Greenpeace magazine) and as of 1980 worked as a journalist for »Der Spiegel«, »GEO«, »Süddeutsche Zeitung«, »tageszeitung«, »Merkur« and »Frankfurter Rundschau«. Caroline Fetscher has written for the Berlin »Tagespiegel« since 1997, focusing on southern Europe, human rights, the Hague Tribunal, gender issues, transatlantic relations and literature.

Jörg Hafkemeyer, born in 1947 in Berlin, has been working for radio and television since the end of the 70’s, initially as the culture editor and host for the Saarländischen broadcast. He was an active correspondent in Washington and Mexico for the TV channel ARD. At the end of the 90’s Hafkemeyer took on the position as Chief editor for the series "Sabine Christiansen“, for almost 2 years. In 2000 he built up the program of study “Culture Journalism” at the Berlin Universität der Künste (UdK) (University of Art), of which he was the principal until 2005. In 2002 he was promoted to Honorary Professor. He continues to work concurrently as a film maker for ARD and for the Deutschlandradio Kultur, as well as for different newspapers.

Dieter Ingenschay, born in 1948, is a professor for Hispanic literary studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin. His key focus comprises of Spanish and Latin American literature of the 20th century, in particular city literature, post colonial/post dictatorship literature and Gender/Gay Studies. He has held guest professorships in the USA, Argentina and Spain amongst others. Igenschay is the program coordinator of "ProSpanien", which focuses on the promotion of Spanish culture and scholarship.

Martin Jankowski was born in Greifswald, in 1965, and lives in Berlin. Since 1985 he has been active as a singer and poet in Leipzig’s political underground. He has been living as a novelist in Berlin since 1995. He has published songs, poems, essays, stories and the books “Rabet oder Das Verschwinden einer Himmelsrichtung“ (1999), “Indonesisches Sekundenbuch“ (poetry, 2005), “Mäuse“ (novella, 2006), “Der Tag, der Deutschland veränderte“ (essays, 2007). Jankowski is the host of the bimonthly Berliner Literatursalon and directs the Berliner Literarische Aktion e.V.. Since 2001 he has worked on the team of the international literature festival berlin and founded, among other things, the International SLAM! Review and the reading series “Literature behind bars”. (www.martin-jankowski.de)

Lidija Klasic, born in Krapina, Yugoslavia (today Croatia), studied political theory in Zagreb. She worked as a journalist for the then Radio Zagreb and as of 1988 as a foreign correspondent in Bonn. Discharged for being a critic of Tudjman, she then worked as an editor at the »Deutsche Welle«. Lidija Klasic now works as a parliamentary correspondent for the »Deutsche Welle« in Berlin.

Peter Kultzen, born in Hamburg in 1962, studied Romance and German languages and literatures in Munich, Salamanca, Madrid and Berlin. He now lives in Berlin with his family and works as visiting lecturer and translator of Spanish and Portuguese literature.

Shelley Kupferberg was born in Tel Aviv in 1974 and grew up in West Berlin. She was already involved in radio programmes during her studies in Journalism and Theatre. Today she moderates several cultural and social broadcasts and for the past few years has been artistic advisor for the Jewish Days of Culture in Berlin.

Sigrid Löffler, born in 1942, is a publisher and critic from Austria. She was, amongst other things, culture correspondent for the "Süddeutschen Zeitung”, and head of the feature page for the Hamburg Weekend newspaper "Die Zeit“. Today, she is the editor of the journal, “Literaturen“ in Berlin, which she founded in 2000. For 13 years she was a member of the ZDF series, “Das literarische Quartett“.

Nathalie Mälzer-Semlinger, born in 1970, studied general and comparative literature, theatre and film theory in both Berlin and Paris. She now lives in Berlin, where she works as a freelance literary translator, interpreter and moderator. In 2000 she was awarded, together with a colleague, the Stefan George Prize.

Marita Meyer was born in 1962, studied German, Philosophy, and Art History, and wrote her doctorate in Heidelberg about Peter Weiss and the portrayal of the Holocaust. She has worked as an editor at Yale University (USA) and as DAAD-editor at the Uniwersytet Szczecinski (Poland). Currently she is an assitant lecturer at the FU Berlin. She has published articles on 20th century literature and culture, as well as on contemporary literature.

Robin Meyer-Lucht, born in 1973, has worked since 2005 as strategy advisor for media enterprises and as media journalist. He has advised, among others, the Swiss publishing house Ringier and the Hessian radio station, and regularly writes the »Virtual market« column for the »Perlentaucher«. He was research assistant for Professor Dr. Peter Glotz at the Institute for Media and Communication Management at the University of St. Gallen from 2001 to 2004. Robin Meyer-Lucht lives in Zurich and Berlin.

Juan Moreno was born in 1972 in the Spanish Huércal-Overa. He studied economics in Constance, Florence and Cologne. In conjunction, he attended the Deutsche Journalistenschule (German School of Journalism) in Munich. Moreno has been working for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” since 2000. He has been hosting a radio show for the “Westdeutschen Rundfunk“ and writing regularly for the news magazine "Der Spiegel" since mid 2007. His novel "Cindy liebt mich nicht" (together with Jochen-Martin Gutsch) was published in 2005.

Sabine Peschel, born in 1955, studied sinology and German language and literature. She has lived in Taipei, Niigata and Berlin, and translates contemporary Chinese literature. She does publicity for China and has introduced many Chinese writers to German readers for the first time. Sabine Peschel has worked for »Deutsche Welle« in Bonn since 1999.

Ilma Rakusa, born in 1946, studied Slavic and the Romance languages. She makes a living as a writer, translator, publicist (“Neue Zürcher Zeitung“ and “Die Zeit“) and as a visiting University Professor in Zurich. Aside from numerous translations from Russian, Serbo-Croatian, French and Hungarian, her most recent works include "Langsamer!" (2005), "Durch Schnee. Erzählungen und Prosaminiaturen" (2006) and "Zur Sprache gehen. Poetikvorlesungen" (2006).

Tilman Rammstedt was born in Bielefeld in 1975. In 2003 his short story collection »Erledigungen vor der Feier« came out, and in 2005 followed the novel »Wir bleiben in der Nähe«. He reads on stage regularly with »Visch&Ferse« and writes lyrics and plays music for the rock group »Fön« whose collective adventure novel »K.L. McCoy: Mein Leben als Fön« appeared in 2004, along with their first CD »Wir haben Zeit«. Tilman Rammstedt lives in Berlin.

Steffen Richter, geboren 1969, ist promovierter Literaturwissenschaftler und Lehrbeauftragter an Universitäten in Essen, Berlin und Hannover. Er schreibt für die „Neue Zürcher Zeitung“, die „Literarische Welt“, die „Frankfurter Rundschau“ und ist Kolumnist beim „Tagesspiegel“. Richer lebt in Berlin.

Bernhard Robben, born in 1955, studied Philosophy, history, German language and literature in Freiburg im Breisgau as well as at the Free University in Berlin. He worked as a German teacher in Northern Ireland and since 1986 has been a freelance journalist and translator of Irish, English and American literature. In 2003 he received the translation prize of the North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation for his German version of Ian McEwan's novel »Abbitte«. Bernhard Robben lives with his family in Brunne, near Berlin.

Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel, born in Berlin, translates French, Italian and Norwegian literature and theatre (Céline, Echenoz, Reza, Benni, Fosse, Ibsen). He often appears as a presenter at literature houses and institutions, and his linguistic and cultural contributions can be seen on »Karambolage«, on the »ARTE« channel.

Elke Schmitter, born in 1961 in Krefeld, studied philosophy in Munich. She works as an editor at the S. Fischer Publishing Company, as a journalist at “taz”, and as a freelance critic and essayist, particularly for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” and “Die Zeit”. Schmitter is a member of the culture section of the “Spiegel” editing department. She has published stories (1980 and 2006), books (2000, 2002 and 2006) and a series of essays about Heinrich Heine (1997). Her literature has been translated into 21 languages. From time to time she translates English poetry into German.

Wilfried F. Schoeller, born in 1941, is a writer and literary critic. He led and moderated for the literature magazine “Bücher, Bücher” for Hessen Television for many years. After numerous books, literature films and radio plays his monograph “Jorge Semprún. Roman der Erringerung” was published. Schoeller lives in Berlin and in Franfurt a.M.  

Nicolai von Schweder-Schreiner was born in Lissabon in 1967, spent part of his youth in Rio de Janeiro and lives today in Hamburg. He translates from the Portuguese and English (José Saramago, Paulo Lins' novel on which the Oscar-nominated »City of God« was based, Ruy Castro's »Bossa Nova«, Pelé's autobiography). He also works as a composer and musician for theatre and is the singer and guitarist for the band »Veranda Music«.

Frank Sommer is an accomplished actor who has performed in both urban and rural theatres. He has directed the »Eventilator« since 1999, where he organises and moderates readings, book recommendation shows and training in the creative promotion of reading. His special interest lies in scary and gruesome stories.

Angela Spizig found herself at home between the book shelves of the public library as a child. She travelled at the age of 17 to the USA – on a boat full of exchange students from Europe and Africa. She studied English and Romance languages in Cologne and taught languages and literature. Since 1990, she has appeared as a host for film and literature festivals and panel discussions (English, French and German) and reads literary texts at readings. She writes reviews and columns. As a politician concerning herself with cultural and educational issues, and a volunteer mayor in Cologne, she is actively engaged in international cultural networks.

Barbara Wahlster lives in Berlin, where she works as a freelance author and journalist working predominantly for radio. She has also published books and articles for foreign magazines, and lived abroad for a long time, doing research, and on work residencies, including development cooperation. Most recently she lived in South Korea and India.

Arno Widmann was born in 1946 and studied philosophy in Frankfurt. He was cofounder and editor-in-chief of the »tageszeitung« and directed the »Opinion« department of the »Berliner Zeitung«. Today he works for the »Frankfurter Rundschau«.

Herbert Wiesner, born in 1937, grew up in Düsseldorf. After his University studies (particularly literature and art history) he became assistant professor at the University, then a literature critic (for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”), dictionary editor and author of literary Television contributions (for the “Hessischen Rundfunk”) in Munich. From 1981 to 86, he was the editor for “Lesezeichen. Zs. für neue Literatur und Kunst”, and from 1985 to 2003 a co-founder and manager of the first German ‘Literature House’ in Berlin, as well as curator of exhibitions about 20th century literature. Wiesner is publisher and co-author of “Texte aus dem Literaturhaus Berlin”, editions 1-14. Since 1996, he has been an advisor on the German PEN-Chair, and in 2006, was responsible for the literary program of the 72nd International PEN-Congress. He publishes numerous literature critiques in “Die Literarische Welt”. In 2005, he was honoured with the Federal Cross of Merit. Wiesner lives in Berlin.   

Vincent von Wroblewsky studied philosophy and Romance languages and literature. Since 1991, he has been editor and translator of the work of Jean-Paul Sartre (published by Rowohlt), and is also president of the Jean-Paul Sartre Society in Germany and coeditor of the society's annual publication. He has published numerous essays, among them in »Les Temps Modernes«, »Magazine littéraire« as well as in anthologies of »Existentialismus heute«. Vincent von Wroblewsky lives in Berlin and has worked as a simultaneous interpreter since the sixties.

Inge Zenker-Baltes studied German and Romance languages in Tübingen and Bremen. For many years she worked as as a freelance literary critic for Hamburg’s "Abendblatt", the "Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung", and the "Weser Kurier" – as well as for Radio Bremen, the WDR, and the rbb. Her reviews have also been published in the "Spiegel", the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", the "NZZ" and the "Tagesspiegel". She has written many feature articles on topics such as Indians and Egyptians. Every year she travels to Cairo to report on its book fair. In Germany she moderates readings of internationally recognized authors, most recently in 2007 at the Frankfurt book fair. In addition, she has written a play and a libretto for a children’s musical. Both were staged with success. She lives in Lilienthal and in Berlin.