"Just a few scattered seats were occupied. It was clear now how few they were. A sparse audience in her theatre of nature: twelve pupils - five boys, seven girls. The thirteenth had gone back to technical school, even though Mrs Schwanneke had intervened forcefully on his behalf. With repeated private lessons, home visits and psychological reports. Some sort of concentration problem. The things they came up with! These developmental problems they'd read somewhere or other. First there was dyslexia, then dyscalculia. What next? An allergy to biology? Back in the old days there were just pupils who were bad at sport or music. And they had to play and sing along with everyone else anyway. It was merely a matter of willpower."
from The Giraffe's Neck by Judith Schalansky
"Was ich noch zu sagen hätte"
Those of you, living in the Netherlands and a book lover like myself, are probably aware of the 10 days of bookmania in The Netherlands called: "boekenweek" (~'book week'). Every year in March, the so called CPNB = Collective Promotion of the Dutch Book is busy promoting Dutch titles. If you happen to buy a Dutch title during those 10 days for at least € 12.50 (currently) you'll get a "boekenweek cadeau", a so-called 'present', with the title specifically written for this occasion.
Each year one particular theme becomes a sort background canvas for various activities in bookshops, public libraries, schools, theatres and other locations. You cannot possibly miss it if you love books.
And this year's theme is closely connected to the fact that The Netherlands & Flanders will be 'guest of honour' at the book fair in Frankfurt/Main (D). Therefore, the focus of the book week is on their 'eastern neighbour', Germany, with the title: "Was ich noch zu sagen hätte", part of a song by singer-songwriter Reinhard Mey (loosely translated as "oh, and by the way, what I still wanted to mention"). As being a German bookmania myself I was very much looking forward to possible activities around the theme and I was expecting some interesting readings related to the huge variety of German literature. 
I have to admit that I was a bit worried the time the theme was made public last year. The focus of the CPNB was mainly on the shared history of Germany and the Netherlands: WW II. And, to include some literature, some historical authors as Goethe, Schiller and, astonishingly, Günter Grass were mentioned (I am surprised that Günter Grass is still in vogue in The Netherlands as he had lied about his military status during WWII). Actually, I don't mind talking about WWII and Germany's responsibility, especially with the strengthening neo-Nazis and the political right wing thrift these days. And I don't mind talking about Goethe, Schiller and Nobel prize winner Günter Grass, but I missed the latest developments in literature.
And the Goethe Institut in the Netherlands invited a handful of German authors to present their writing during the week like Karen Köhler, Ingo Schulz, Jenny Erpenbeck and poet Jan Wagner. Please feel free to check their site: http://www.boekenweek.nl/optredens-duitse-auteurs-in-nederland/
Still, as the theme is 'what I still wanted to mention', I've decided to give a tiny, very personal, glimpse of some German authors I think are worth mentioning. This will be a tiny sand grain in the huge choice of books and titles available each year in Germany.
I have started my presentation with a quote by Judith Schalansky. Judith is one of the younger generation of authors, as are Juli Zeh, Katharina Hacker, Julia Franck, and very lately with a debut novel, Karen Köhler (who will be in The Netherlands during the 'book week'), all born in the 1970s (and to my knowledge all translate into Dutch and/or English). Born a decennia earlier: Independent Foreign Fiction Prize winner Jenny Erpenbeck, German Book Prize winners Lutz Seiler and Uwe Tellkamp, nominated authors Ingo Schulze and Karen Duve, linguistic artist Sibylle Berg, award winning author Felicitas Hoppe, Ilija Trojanow, and one of my favourite authors Feridun Zaimoglu. If you tend to remark, that the last two might not belong to a list of German authors...please be reminded that Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Turkish born author, is a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature. And if you would ask people in the streets about Rafik Schami or Wladimir Kaminer, both born outside Germany, people would still recognize them clearly as German authors. German literature is so much more than some people apprehend.
But even if you haven't heard of all the above mentioned authors (though you must be oblivious if you have never heard of Jenny Erpenbeck), I still miss the other 'established' German authors like Hans Magnus Enzensberger (also a publisher of a wonderful 'library'), Uwe Timm, Christa Wolf, Martin Walser, Botho Strauss and Sarah Kirsch. And what about Nobel prize winner Herta Müller?!
Let's go back even further: Siegfried Lenz, Heinrich Böll, Thomas Mann and another favourite of mine: Erich Kästner, the only author being present in Berlin 1933 when his books were being burnt at the book burning in Berlin. Just only lately, Hans Fallada has been discovered by the Dutch audience, an author writing about the social and political critical times of the Weimar Republic.And I haven't even started about all the marvellous poets along the line like Kurt Tucholsky, Ringelnatz, Erich Fried, Peter Rühmkopf, Robert Gernhardt, Ulla Hahn, Hilde Domin and so many, many more.
Still, a lot to discover at least for those who would and want to take the time and energy to be curious about German literature. I hope you do.
And for those, who haven't listened yet to the complete song by Reinhard Mey, here's a live recording: https://youtu.be/bBXSa0FzUxs
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| Foto: Johannes Wallat (RuhrNachrichten.de) |
Quote of the Month - February 2016
Ik hou van Holland
'Ik hou van Holland', zei de paraplu.
'Het is mijn land,
Ik kan me geen ander land voorstellen
waar ik altijd zo mezelf kan zijn
en zo open voor iedereen.'
###
I love Holland
'I love Holland', the umbrella said.
'This is my country,
I cannot imagine any other country
where I could always be so much myself
and so open to everyone.'
poem by Rodaan al Galidi, presented at WU 20014
Winternachten 2016 - Writers Unlimited, Den Haag
Starting with the Opening Night on Thursday and the presentation of the Oxfam Novib PEN awards, the tone of the festival is set: freedom of speech, the possibility to express and transmit thoughts and feelings freely and, most of all, safely, to inform of circumstances that are usually suppressed - this is, next to the entertainment and meeting grand authors, what makes this festival so special.
And this year's Opening Night showed again how important it is to reveal suppression of the free word worldwide. As director of Oxfam Novib Farah Karimi pointed up in her speech, in those thirteen years of the awards being presented, two of the past awarded authors have been killed in the meantime. And this year's award ceremony was also overshadowed by the fact that none (!) of the three authors could be present at the festival themselves: Turkish journalist Can Dundar is currently imprisoned for articles on the Turkish president Recep Erdogan, poet and author Amanuel Asrat from Eritrea has been imprisoned since 2001 and it is even unclear if he is still alive, and author Omar Hazek, was held back by the authorities at the airport in Egypt on his scheduled flight to Schiphol. To hear about these facts made it obvious how fragile the freedom of speech, to critically inform and survey suppression, still is in the 21st century.
Next, I switched halls and listened to Dutch journalist Frank Westerman in a talk with Croatian author Slavenka Drakulic on the war in Yugoslavia and its aftermaths. Again and again, their talk showed how important it is to report on wartimes form various points of view reflecting the huge impact war has on its manifold 'participants'.
The successive talk in hall 2 focused as well on informing listeners from a non-governmental point of view on their countries in turmoil respectively. Egyptian writer Alaa Al Aswany informed of the Arab Spring and Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov of the Ukranian uprising. How different and still similar the unrest in both countries are influenced by the various layers of its society. The wish to change circumstances, to actively participate in the redirection of one's country's history and simultaneously being faced with the multilayers of interests underlying the various activities. Again, this talk showed how important it is to have critical voices giving a larger picture of the inner conflicts of each country.
And finally, my personal 'Friday Night' at the festival, always closes with poetry. In hall 1, the nominated poets to the VSB poetry prize present their poems and each time, the festival succeeds in making special arrangements. This year, a poem by Syrian author Adonis was set on music by 'musician in residence' Dick van der Harst and his fellow musicians. Modestly arranged, still excellently performed. It's been a pleasure again!
Next day, Saturday, started early again: I visited the literary brunch organised by a young community called, CLEEFT, on first time novelists: what happens when your first book is being published. Bregje Hofstede and Lize Spit were interviewed on their experiences on their first book. Lize Spit just had her first book presented at the festival. All in all a very interesting talk with music by Gerson Main, an upcoming singer-songwriter with hilarious texts and a notable outfit. Interesting point being made by the audience: do first time novelist have to be young of age? Food for thought for another literary brunch.
Another event in hall 2 took on a similar tone: how much does national / private conflicts have influence on the long term: "Where can you hide?" with authors from all walks of life: Petina Gappah from Zimbabwe, José Eduardo Agualusa from Angola, Joanna Bator from Poland and György Dragomán from Romania presenting their books with each a female protagonist trying to hide from reality. Most notable author to me was José Eduardo Agualusa. His style of writing made me very curious about his novels and I will certainly read on...
And then followed another excellent event in hall 1: the "Seven Deadly Sins" - seven authors were asked to write a text on one of the capital sins, complemented by 'musician in residence' Dirk van der Harst and his colleagues plus the extraordinary voice of singer Lieselot de Wilde. Again, a programme I can blindly trust to give me thorough pleasure and joy of the spoken word by each noteworthy author.
To bring the evening to a close emphasising the dark side of the festival (according to its motto), Belgian singer Helmut Lotti presented a mix of poems and songs from his latest CD making use of his very special timbre.
And I couldn't leave the festival without the early Sunday morning radio show O.V.T., transmitted live from the festival. Interesting authors being interviewed on various subjects: this year, part of the show focused on the latest book by poet Rodaan Al Galidi Hoe ik talent voor het leven kreeg ('How I got talent for this life' not yet translated). Instead of the media writing over refugees and their lives, Rodaan was asked by Adriaan van Dis to publish his point of view as a refugee and his long term bureaucratic ordeal in the Netherlands. In his typical comic way Rodaan succeeds in describing a tragic situation in such a hilarious way that you can never be sure whether to laugh or to cry. His style reminds me so much of the style of Nasreddin, the Iranian philosophical poet. In the meantime his book has even reached prominence as it was declared 'Book of the Month' by the Dutch tv programme DWDD acknowledging his singular point of view.Again, Winternachten has been a wonderful and inspiring begin of the new (literary) year and I am glad to have taken the time to attend all four days! Time again to make use of an altered Jewish saying: "Next year in Den Haag"!
Quote of the Month - January 2016
"The year 2016 shall be
a wonderful year!"
"I wonder..."
***********************
Wishing you all a prosperous and
healthy New Year 2016!
Thank you for checking my blog those past years;
hopefully you will continue checking it monthly.
I shall take care to give you reason to do so.
Quote of the Month - December 2015
Christmas is a time of cheers,
not a time of sorrows.
So have some fun, drink some beer,
and be at work tomorrow!
Christmas greetings to the volunteers, Kibbutz Hatzor-Ashdod (Israel), 1985
Great voices - Berlin III
Some time ago, my mother asked me how Berlin has been...that's when I realised that I was lagging behind with this blog. So much had happend in the meantime: I have not only been to Berlin in September but, at the same time, found and moved into "a room of my own" after 1,5 years of shifting between The Netherlands and Germany. So, for you, dear reader, I will look back on my stay in Berlin at the "Internationales Literaturfestival 2015" (ilb).
I had tickets bought to some very inspiring and notable authors. Let's start with Jenny Erpenbeck. Just in short as I had her already mentioned several times on this blog (see April & September 2015 & July 2012). Jenny introduced her latest book in German Gehen, ging, gegangen ('Go, went, gone'; not yet translated) in which she turns to the issue of immigrants, specifically in her book, situated in Berlin. I have started reading it while staying in Berlin which was alluring for I walked some places that are mentioned in the book which made it even more palpable.
Then there was Laksmi Pamuntjak with her latest book Amba / The Question of Red / Alle Farben Rot (transl.: Martina Heinschke) in which she interweaves historical incidents with an Indonesian mythology. I have seen her later again at the Writers Unlimited programme The Series in den Den Haag being interviewed on the subject of Indonesia during the times of 1965-66. I will write more on her in springtime as I will give a talk on her in Germany in March 2016.
As Indonesia had been guest of honour at the Buchmesse Frankfurt this year the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin held a book presentation dealing with the complex subject of the 30 September Movement. As I will have a talk on Laksmi I took the opportunity to gather all possible additional information around this subject. So I bought a ticket to Leila S. Chudori's presentation of her latest novel Pulang / Home. Whereas Laksmi is approaching the same subject from a mythical point of view Leila takes a journalistic approach. Still, both authors are brave enough to touch a taboo on Indonesian history. Interesting to me not only because of the talk I will give but also because Indonesia is still closely connected to The Netherlands. For those living in The Netherlands: Leila's book has just been published by De Geus: Naar huis (transl.: Henk Maier) and she will attend the Tong Tong Festival in Den Haag at the end of May 2016.
Astonishingly, there had been many young people in the audience though obviously they had been more interested in Laurie's strong language. All three had a clear point in focusing on equal rights for women. Whereas Mona's work carries another dimension: she not only wages a conflict with men in general but specifically with Arab men and their 'hatred' against women. This might be used by other communities against Arab men for which she is made seen as a traitor by the Arab community itself. We've seen this happen also with Afro-American women activists. Luckily, there are more and more men around the globe realising that supporting women is improving general conditions therefore it is best to join forces.
And especially in these times of unrest it is important to join forces and become a caring community worldwide gathering, symbolically, under the vast dome of the universe. Domes had not only been physically very present in Berlin but also metaphorically in Elif Shafak's novel The Architect's Apprentice. Another novel presented at the ilb in which Elif dives into the Istanbul of Mimar Sinan, major Ottoman architect.
She focuses on the spirit of architecture, the imagery of building and destroying bridges and presenting the diversity and richness of former Istanbul. Another warm and wonderful novel by this extraordinary author and I was very happy to finally meet Elif in person after having given a talk on her at the international women's day in Germany this year. I had learned that Elif and Mona had a meeting at the ilb. I imagine that it must have been very inspiring to both of them.
And then there had been Kamila Shamsie, another striking author (see also June 2012). While I attended the reading on her latest book A God in Every Stone I decided to add her to my talk on modern Indian women writers in October in Germany. To get a better understanding of this ongoing twist between India and Pakistan it is certainly necessary to read both sides of the medal and Kamila is, next to being Pakistani, an exceptional author and I sincerely recommended her books to my German audience. I boldly compare her, though she is still young of age, to Salman Rushdie, especially in relation to her expansive approach in her books.
I was very glad to have been to the ilb this summer and having been able to meet all these excellent female authors at one place. And - there was this excellent interviewer (in the picture next to Kamila): Gabriele von Arnim. To have all English interviews translated on the spot by the interviewer was sometimes very annoying (Germans still seem very reluctant to do an effort themselves). But Gabriele did such a great job by interrelating questions and translation that it didn't feel as time consuming as with others. An outstanding performance.Now, I am looking forward to another year ahead full of new literary experiences. And the first ones are already in sight: January will again host the 'finest international literature festival' in Den Haag: Writers Unlimited 2016, just one week ahead to the Jaipur literature festival 2016. Make sure to buy your tickets to the Writers Unlimited before 15 December and profit from a considerable discount (klick here).
Seasonal greetings to you all!
Quote of the Month - September 2015
"When asked [U.S. secretary of state John Kerry after the 2013 driving campaign by Saudi Arabian women] about the women's demands, Kerry said, essentially, that Saudi Arabia had the right to have whatever social order it saw fit. No recognition of the women's fight or courage. No recognition of the outrageous violations of women's rights. If any ethnic or religious group were being treated the way Saudi women are treated, such an apartheid would long ago have been condemned, and Saudi Arabia boycotted, by the United States and other Western nations."
from Headscarves and Hymens. Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution
by Mona Elthahaway (2015)
from Headscarves and Hymens. Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution
by Mona Elthahaway (2015)
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