Programme

_12.00_reflections
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Foyer

Africa and Europe. Andreas Eckert (Germany), Grada Kilomba (Portugal/Germany), Ibrahima Thioub (Senegal)
After the Second World War, the colonisation of Africa by European countries in the 19th and 20th centuries was brought to an end, and sovereign states were established. The hopes that were attached to this new beginning were followed by bitter disappointments that were essentially brought about by the pressure-group politics of the Western industrial nations. Many African countries have hardly been able to develop in terms of their governments and economies. What must the European Union do in order to allow a partnership with Africa to develop that will work to Africa’s advantage?
In cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation

_14.00_children and young adults
Die Gelbe Villa

FamilyFestival International. Reading without Boundaries
After school and at the weekend
In cooperation with die gelbe Villa, the JugendKulturService and the Theater an der Parkaue – Junges Staatstheater Berlin
The authors Anne-Laure Bondoux (France), Xosé Antonio Neira Cruz (Spain) und Nahoko Uehashi (Japan) will read for children, young people and adults; the illustrators and graphic artists Piet Grobler (South Africa), Ted van Lieshout (Netherlands), Farshid Shafiee (Iran) und Thé Tjong-Khing (Indonesia/Netherlands) will work in creative workshops with young festival visitors. There is also a varied complementary programme of theatre for children, workshops, fantastic journeys in disabled wards, literature quizzes, internet treasure hunts and exciting participation activities.
Free entry. Holders of a family pass are entitled to a free drink at the milk bar

_14.30_reflections
Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit

Closed Doors? Of the necessity to include African artists and authors in German cultural programmes
Free entrance

_15.00_reflections
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Foyer

The relationship between Germany and Africa: Past and Present. Uazuvara Ewald Katjivena (Namibia/Norway), Helmut Strizek (Germany), Joachim Zeller (Germany)
Presented by: Hans Christoph Buch
The topic of discussion is Germany’s role in Africa, which today seems comparatively marginal. Yet the continent’s history – and present – is closely linked to German foreign affairs, particularly its dark side: the Berlin Congo Conference of 1884/85, the annihilation of the Herero and Namaqua in German South-West Africa (today Namibia) between 1904 and 1908, the Maji Maji War in German East Africa (today Tanzania) between 1905 and 1907 and Rommel’s campaign in the Second World War. How does this history affect Germany’s contemporary communication with Africa? To which challenges must Germany rise?

_15.30_kaleidoscope
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Seitenbühne

Christoph D. Brumme (Germany)
Presented by: Knut Elstermann
Reader: Corinna Harfouch
Where the German border once existed, in the Harz mountains, No lives in a village called Misery with his family, which is even more anonymous than he is. No himself is a nobody, a child without qualities, still beyond good and evil. “No was a chess piece, a knight, to be exact. He had a horse-like face and a mouth carved from wood.” No’s father teaches his children the principle of submission with cold consistency. His child-rearing methods – utterly German Protestant – follow cool calculation. Like the chess game that he has taught the whole family.

_16.00_specials
Paris Bar

Asking for money. Begging letters from W.A. Mozart to Henry Miller
Reader: Yuri Englert
Talents and riches, regrettably, rarely go hand in hand – generations of artists can tell us a thing or two about this. Or write a letter about it. See “Asking for money“, in which letters asking for money are collected; letters from artists such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, Edgar Allan Poe, James Joyce, Vincent van Gogh und Egon Schiele, and also from Winston Churchill and Fidel Castro. An anthology of despair, hope and delusion.
In cooperation with Berlin Press
Free entrance

_16.00_speak, memory
Literaturhaus | Großer Saal

Bruno Schulz: Cinnamon Shops
Introduction: Wilfried F. Schoeller
Speaker: Friedhelm Ptok
"The Cinnamon Shops" – one of the 20th century’s great childhood accounts – tells of the vanished world of the Galician shtetl: the eccentric father and his evil antagonist Adela, enchanted gardens and mouldy doorways, rooms, unexpectedly discovered behind nailed-shut doors, in which the wallpaper is starting to come to life, the shimmering summer idyll, a storm that disturbs the litter on the reservoir, nights which see tailors’ mannequins come alive. Doreen Daume created a new language to translate the Polish original, rich in neologisms and atmospheric imagery; in combining faithfulness to the original and a gift for invention she created an extremely striking text. She received the prestigious Zug Translation Grant for her work.
Entry 6/5/4 €

_17.00_reflections
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Foyer

Africa in the Globalisation Era – Challenges, Chances and Risks. Klaus Brückner (Germany), Uschi Eid (Germany), Robert Kappel (Germany), Sanusha Naidu (South Africa), Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien (Nigeria/ Germany)
Presented by: Peter Frey
At the beginning of the new millennium the African community of states took a stand for peace, security, democracy and good national leadership with the founding of the African Union and the “New Partnership for Africa’s Development”. At the same time Africa lays claim to playing an active role in the design of globalisation’s future and using it towards Africa’s development. The international raw materials boom has gained Africa high economic growth rates. China and India are building up their relations with Africa systematically, and are stepping into competition with Europe, the U.S. and Japan. Which chances does this offer Africa? Which challenges must Africa master, in order for globalisation to positively contribute towards the political, economic, social and cultural development of the continent?
In cooperation with the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit

_17.30_literature of the world
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Seitenbühne

László Krasznahorkai (Hungary/Germany) and Ion Grigorescu (Romania)
László Krasznahorkai will introduce Ion Grigorescu with a short story, his nominee for the programme section “Literatures of the World”. Grigorescu is considered to be one of the first Romanian concept artists. His work and performances combine political and metaphysical aspects, and are often concerned with his own physicality.

_19.00_kaleidoscope
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Große Bühne

Péter Esterházy (Hungary)
Presented by: Gabriele von Arnim
Why have so many Hungarians been kissed by the muses and become such outstanding authors over the last decades? Only the gods know. But we do know that Péter Esterházy is one of them. He will be reading from his book “Einführung in die schöne Literatur” (t: Introduction to literature), from his new story "Nur keine Kunst!" (t: Just no art), and about a certain Kornél Esti and his “encounter” with the German language. Esti is no stranger in Hungarian literature; he is the protagonist of a novel by Dezsö Kosztolány (1885-1936), who is Esterházy’s literary hero...

_19.00_speak, memory
Literaturhaus | Kaminraum

Francesco Petrarca: Africa
Introduction: Hartmut Diekmann
Reader: Friedhelm Ptok
When Petrarch (1304-1374) read to King Robert of Naples from “Africa”, the monarch requested the work be dedicated to him. He was enthused by the idea of the work, which celebrated the victory of Rome over Carthage as the starting point for a reawakening of the Roman Empire. At Easter of 1341, Petrarch was crowned poet on the Roman Capitoline Hill. The poet interpreted the coronation as a renewal of the empire in the ancient spirit, and the victory over Africa as a final confirmation of this.

_19.15_Focus Africa
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Foyer

Fatou Diome (Senegal/France)
Presented by: Barbara Wahlster
Reader: Geno Lechner
Fatou Diome will be reading from her latest novel “Ketala“. Who is the woman that has returned to Africa to die? No one knows anything about her. Her faithful companion and her few possessions threaten to be scattered to the four winds. But before the inheritance is divided, her pieces of furniture remain for six nights and five days to tell the adventure-filled story of their owner to one another…

_19.30_literature of the world
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Seitenbühne

Poetry Night III. Georgi Gospodinov (Bulgaria), Nora Iuga (Romania), Michael Lentz (Germany), Vasyl Makhno (Ukraine/USA), Mihály Víg (Hungary) among others
Presented by: Silke Behl
Reader: Frank Arnold, Astrid Gorvin
Georgi Gospodinov made his debut in 1992 with his volume of poems, “Lapadarium”, which was followed by a second volume in 1996. He achieved international fame with his first novel, “Natural Novel” (1999; Eng. 2005), which has since been translated into ten languages. Also a playwright and screenwriter, the successful Bulgarian writer will be presenting his poetry.
Nora Iuga is the “grande dame” of Romanian poetry, and translator of numerous German-speaking authors into Romanian, including Günther Grass, Elfriede Jelinek, and Oskar Pastior, among others.
She will be reading poems from her recently published selected works translated into German – “Gefährliche Launen”. Her poems have a timeless freshness, and they explore themes of people’s desires, their physicality and their longings.
For Michael Lentz, the presentation (almost) always belongs to the text. His literature isn’t only the printed word – it’s also what is read aloud, alone or accompanied by music or film. Poems belong on the stage, set to music – also without musicians. This evening Michael Lentz will read from his two volumes of poetry as well as new writings.
The Ukrainian poet Vasyl Makhno has lived in New York for the last eight years. His volume of poetry “Plawnyk ryby” (the Fish’s Fin) – half of it written in Europe, half in America – is a visible testimony to this transition. Diversity, vigour and the profane are the trademarks of his free verse, as well as the observant, lyrical “I”.
Mihály Víg was nominated for the programme “Literatures of the World” by László Krasznahorkai. Hungarian poet, storyteller, musician, actor and composer of film soundtracks, Víg comes from a family of artists. Along with song texts, he has published a volume of poems and novellas, “Versek és novellák”.

_20.45_kaleidoscope
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Foyer

Uwe Timm (Germany)
Presented by: Wilfried F. Schoeller
The author will be reading from his novel, adapted to film in 1985, “Morenga”, whose backdrop includes the uprising and defeat of the Herero and Namaqua against their colonial rulers in German South-West Africa. It is considered as the first genocide of the 20th century, in which 80% of the Herero and 50% of the Namaqua were killed. The novel begins with a German head veterinarian’s journey to the war zone – and ends with the death of one of the first guerrilla fighters, Jacobus Morenga, the “black Napoleon”.

_21.00_speak, memory
Literaturhaus | Kaminraum

Ken Saro-Wiwa: Sozaboy
Introduction: Hartmut Diekmann
Reader: Max Volkert Martens
They call him Sozaboy – the boy who, above all else, wants to go to war. Even though no-one really knows who they’re fighting against or where, let alone why. Sozaboy’s experiences exceed his understanding, terrible, incomprehensible or simply bewildering experiences. By the end, his life is all but ruined, his village destroyed, his family killed, his opportunities scarce. But despite all his setbacks, shame and humiliation, his lust for life and his simple energy never desert him. Saro-Wiwa (Nigeria 1941-1995) received the Alternative Nobel Prize and was nominated for the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize – one year after he had been executed by the Nigerian military regime.
Entry 6/5/4 €

_22:00_Focus Africa
Haus der Berliner Festspiele | Kassenhalle

William Ramsay’s 'Groove Politics'
Charles Obin-Yapi (Ivory Coast/France), William Ramsay (South Africa/Germany), Lito Tabora (Philippines/Germany), Roger Thomas (Mauritius/France), Alexey Wagner (Russia/Germany), Dietrich Wöhrlin (Germany)
The music of the South African composer and saxophonist, William Ramsay, explores the vast musical treasures of the African continent from the rich choral textures of Southern Africa through the unique flavours of the East African Coast to the hypnotic rhythms of West Africa, incorporating elements from indigenous culture and re-interpreting them to create a unique and indefinable sound fused with choruses in different African languages. Through this explosive mixture the group has quickly gained a reputation for its uncompromising approach to playing African music.
In cooperation with the kunst:raum sylt quelle Foundation
Entrance 10/8 €