About Encounters Across the Ocean (conversations): All six novelists from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland will present their latest work in a discussion with Columbia graduate students from the Department of Germanic languages and the Writing Program.* The discussion will be held in English.
About Festival Neue Literatur (February 20th – February 22nd):
This will be the sixth installment of Festival Neue Literatur, where New York City once again plays host to six authors from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. These authors are rising stars in the German-language world - but their oeuvre still remains to be discovered by U.S. readers.
The 2015 festival features the following authors: Marjana Gaponenko and Anna Weidenholzer (Austria), Navid Kermani and Matthias Nawrat (Germany), Jonas Lüscher and Monique Schwitter (Switzerland). The 2015 festival will also proudly feature two celebrated American writers, the novelist and short story writer Adam Haslett, and Carribean-born fiction writer, poet, and essayist Tiphanie Yanique, who bring an American perspective and sensibility to these events, creating a dynamic of literary exchange and discourse.
The theme of the 2015 festival, which was curated by eminent translator and writer Tess Lewis, is Love and Money. Half of this year's featured authors explore the seven types of love as defined by the ancient Greeks, as well as their flip sides and the spaces in between. The books illustrate a wide variety of characters and types of love, from first teenage infatuation to an elderly ornithologist whose first and only love was for birds to a family that encounters emotional struggles within itself. When it comes to taboos, however, money often trumps love. The other half of this year's featured authors tackle the delicate issue of money with a sharp, satirical eye. These books examine the less visible ways financial crises warp personal lives and the social fabric, and tell the stories of English bankers stranded in a Tunisian resort, a family living in a dystopian Black Forest, and a middle-aged woman who struggles to maintain her dignity after being declared redundant.
Each year, the festival also produces a reader featuring excerpts from the authors’ books. The 2015 reader will be available for download in an electronic version on the festival website shortly at: www.festivalneueliteratur.org.
All events will be in English, and are free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required due to limited seating. Please let us know which event you would like to attend by sending an email to rsvp@festivalneueliteratur.org. The events take place at different venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. For more information on the festival, its authors, and other FNL events, please refer to: www.festivalneueliteratur.org.
Festival Neue Literatur (FNL) was established as a collaborative project of New York’s leading German-language cultural institutions: the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Consulate General of Germany, the Consulate General of Switzerland, Deutsches Haus at Columbia University, Deutsches Haus at NYU, the German Book Office, Goethe-Institut New York, and Pro Helvetia.
Festival Neue Literatur 2015 is made possible through generous support of BMW of North America. Additional support is provided by Elderberry Catering, McNally Jackson Books, powerHouse Arena, Radeberger Gruppe, and Tattly.
* Unfortunately, Navid Kermani had to withdraw from the event schedule unexpectedly. In his place at the Columbia event, the graduate student who prepared for an interview with Mr. Kermani will present the book himself.
About Festival Neue Literatur (February 20th – February 22nd):
This will be the sixth installment of Festival Neue Literatur, where New York City once again plays host to six authors from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. These authors are rising stars in the German-language world - but their oeuvre still remains to be discovered by U.S. readers.
The 2015 festival features the following authors: Marjana Gaponenko and Anna Weidenholzer (Austria), Navid Kermani and Matthias Nawrat (Germany), Jonas Lüscher and Monique Schwitter (Switzerland). The 2015 festival will also proudly feature two celebrated American writers, the novelist and short story writer Adam Haslett, and Carribean-born fiction writer, poet, and essayist Tiphanie Yanique, who bring an American perspective and sensibility to these events, creating a dynamic of literary exchange and discourse.
The theme of the 2015 festival, which was curated by eminent translator and writer Tess Lewis, is Love and Money. Half of this year's featured authors explore the seven types of love as defined by the ancient Greeks, as well as their flip sides and the spaces in between. The books illustrate a wide variety of characters and types of love, from first teenage infatuation to an elderly ornithologist whose first and only love was for birds to a family that encounters emotional struggles within itself. When it comes to taboos, however, money often trumps love. The other half of this year's featured authors tackle the delicate issue of money with a sharp, satirical eye. These books examine the less visible ways financial crises warp personal lives and the social fabric, and tell the stories of English bankers stranded in a Tunisian resort, a family living in a dystopian Black Forest, and a middle-aged woman who struggles to maintain her dignity after being declared redundant.
Each year, the festival also produces a reader featuring excerpts from the authors’ books. The 2015 reader will be available for download in an electronic version on the festival website shortly at: www.festivalneueliteratur.org.
All events will be in English, and are free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required due to limited seating. Please let us know which event you would like to attend by sending an email to rsvp@festivalneueliteratur.org. The events take place at different venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. For more information on the festival, its authors, and other FNL events, please refer to: www.festivalneueliteratur.org.
Festival Neue Literatur (FNL) was established as a collaborative project of New York’s leading German-language cultural institutions: the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Consulate General of Germany, the Consulate General of Switzerland, Deutsches Haus at Columbia University, Deutsches Haus at NYU, the German Book Office, Goethe-Institut New York, and Pro Helvetia.
Festival Neue Literatur 2015 is made possible through generous support of BMW of North America. Additional support is provided by Elderberry Catering, McNally Jackson Books, powerHouse Arena, Radeberger Gruppe, and Tattly.
* Unfortunately, Navid Kermani had to withdraw from the event schedule unexpectedly. In his place at the Columbia event, the graduate student who prepared for an interview with Mr. Kermani will present the book himself.