my fm4 jury portrait

is here. oh, and the guy in homo faber is called walter faber. right. hahahaha.

out of the office

after a fun weekend in innsbruck, i'm packing my bags for geneva and frankfurt at the moment. i won't be online again until next tuesday, so please excuse this week's postlessness.

the reading at the bierstindl prosafestival with raphael urweider, ann cotten and micha ebeling went very well. (as did the party afterwards...) everybody was really nice, and i kind of regret not having travelled to innsbruck earlier this week. then again, i was sick and could really use the downtime at home.

DIE ZEIT lists a couple of (ex-)indexed books and gives the reasons why they were forbidden in germany. interesting!

after having a third look at my Literaturpreis Prenzlauer Berg 2008 entry Neun Strophen: Heller, i realized that two edits defnitely aren't enough. while i didn't spot any major flaws, there are a couple of repetitions and the odd filler word i should have left out. hopefully nothing, though, that will keep the jury from inviting me to read in the first round... three cheers for anonymous selection processes!

happy birthday WOAW! - a speech

a year ago to the day, i posted my first entry on WORDS ON A WATCH. it was my third day as what i called 'a full-time writer'. i liked to call me that, and had to, too, as i had just fled from an employment contract i had only signed three weeks earlier. i was stranded in munich, with barely any friends in town, yet with six months of time at my hands. after these six months, i thought, i would know whether i had what it takes to succeed as a poet and author. by the time i'd be moving to london, i thought, i would hold in my hands the first finished draft of a novel. how to achieve these goals, however, was a mystery to me, and even when i started writing my entry for FM4's Wortlaut 2007, i didn't think one minute i could stand a chance to win. after all, i had confused the 'character' and 'word' counts and was working straight towards a deadline that was actually only set for six weeks after when i thought. perhaps you can imagine how bizarre it seems to me that now, as i am writing this, i'm one of five member's of this year's Wortlaut final jury, together with people like kathrin passig and thomas meinecke.

in munich, when i couldn't sleep at night, i translated poetry, and all i ever thought about during the days were names for characters and plots and subplots. now, here in london, when i can't sleep at night i just lie there and wonder whether i should take the risk again; the risk (and luxury) of moving to some remote place like triberg in the middle of the black forest, that has always had this wicked appeal to me. on a more realistic note, berlin, too, is still very enticing. and not only for its literary scene and all my friends at lauter niemand, that is.

in any case, making myself heard throughout the last year, even if on a comparatively small scale, and receiving feedback on my work, has changed me as a person. i have become aware of the fact that it's not only other people's lives that are different from mine, but that my own life can get very different from what i have known it to be, ever so nice, incomprehensible.

WOAW through the months has served as a pillar, a platform, but also as a chair circle, really, with you guys listening and talking back to me whenever you felt the need. i'd like things to remain just like that, wild and free, if you want, and hope this is ok with you.

from the inky depths of my pen-shaped heart, i thank you for watching the words here with me.

may i remind you of my upcoming reading in innsbruck

saturday,
29 march 2008.

with ann cotten, raphael urweider and micha ebeling.

more info here.

surprisingly enough, i managed to submit an entry for this year's Literaturpreis Prenzlauer Berg. it was all very last minute, but i'm happy with what i submitted. it's a six page story called Neun Strophen: Heller and as yet only exists in german. i might translate it into english at a point, but not just yet, as i still have plenty of work to do for uni. also, i have to get my things all packed up and ready for my trip home next week. how exciting!

go, guys!

erstmals in berlin und sonstwo

torstraße 60

dank kook read:

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

DIE ROTTEN KINCK SCHOW

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Qualle: Masse oder Eremit?

/// Tierbaby-Bingo

/// Kreisverhör: wie ihr werdet, was wir sind

/// Wetter und Geld

Mit Ann Cotten, Monika Rinck und Sabine Scho

Am 1. April um 21:00 Uhr im Kaffee Burger

the odd beginning of a poem just gets lost.

translation, as promised

Good and ready to barter
All in the head against each
Against every next morning
Grows against regions
There to move into
To move those velvet curtains to
The play of light

Next exchange next
Head against nearer and
Louder newcomer districts
Pastures and blossoms and vines
Ducklakes
As bonuses come with the traffic
The stone streets

Toothwhite against
Rural dentition against the eternal
When-question
Time in one's grip till
it's morning against.

FM4 Wortlaut 2008: Call for submissions!

gut und zum tausch bereit
alles im kopf gegen jeden
gegen jeden nächsten morgen
wachsen gegengegenden
dort einziehn
samtne vorhänge zum lichtspiel
der morgen bewegen

nächster tausch nächster
kopf gegen all jene näheren
lauteren zuziehergegenden
weiden und blühen und rebstöcke
seen
als dreingabe zum tausch
der steinstrassen

zahnweisse gegen das
landgebiss gegen die
wannfrage
zeit in der hand haben bis
gegen morgen.



i'll translate it some other time.

cow pat explosion