30 May 2008

bachmannpreis new website online, john irving reading

this week there were two interesting literary events on my list.

the first one was on wednesday:
the launch of the brand new, multilingual homepage of the ingeborg bachmann preis.

the second one was a reading by john irving tonight (i'm sure the kcl people will put a review up soon. until then, this link here will lead you to another, kind of similar reading of his). it was more of a lecture on his way of working than anything else, which was fantastic. for example he admitted to editing his texts up to twenty times, until he finds 'that one wrong word'. what a relief to hear that from a gifted person like him!! somehow i always seem to think that literary perfection is supposed to happen right when the words appear on the page. especially when i do not write much over an extended period of time i tend to forget that working extremely hard for a good text is perfectly normal. other cool john irving quotes from tonight include:

i write to a sound.

i write from the last sentence to the first chapter.

[on the importance of a well-crafted plot] how can you know where i am going if i don't?

the first sentence is always easier than the last.

all writers are outsiders. or should be.

it's a good feeling to be a popular novelist, but i value my enemies, too. more than they could ever imagine, in fact.

i got into wrestling because i was angry and nobody told me things. i was resentful.

making films to me feels like skipping school.

20 May 2008

(picture taken from picture of walls)

17 May 2008

guadeloupe

und bleibst stumm sitzen auf dem teppich
aus zurechtgelegten sätzen, faselig
die krummen zehen in das hingeseufz vergraben,
denkst, du kannst, du denkst, du kannst
das lächeln ungesehen machen, das im witz,
auf dem du sitzt, verharrt.

12 May 2008

next reading in klagenfurt



on friday, 27 june 2008, together with alain claude sulzer, who is part of this year's ingeborg bachmann prize jury. we'll be reading during the Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur.

all this is a huge honor for me little poet.

10 May 2008

for fun



find more of this girl here, if you wanna.

07 May 2008

i apologize for having been a lazy blogger lately, i am in the middle of exams. my last one is on 22 may, so you can expect deeper and more frequent posting again after that.

02 May 2008

for fun

today i partook in no man's land's ongoing translation contest - they're looking for the german 'superübersetzer'. and the task, indeed, was a hard one (see link).

[i added a picture of me hugging an angel at the UN headquarters in geneva just to make this entry a little more colourful.]