so much for originality

it's funny: a while ago i wrote a prose piece that contained a sentence that went  

Es fährt ein Motorrad vorbei, dessen Dröhnen in dem eines Flugzeugs aufgeht. 

[a motorcycle passes, its roar merges into the roar of an airplane.]

today, in my lyrikmail, i found a poem by crauss that incorporates the same idea in its first two lines, only different

ein flugzeug über dem haus, das schnurgerade
geräusch eines mähers verirrt sich darin.

[an airplane over the house, dead striaght
the roar of a mower gets lost in.]

...guess we'll both need to come up with something a little more original next time?  

"songs and poems - or sentences, as i call them" (m. donhauser)

last night i attended a great poetry reading at the literaturhaus berlin, the highlight of which was a reading by oswald egger, the first-ever winner of the recently awarded oskar pastior prize. that prize is a cool prize for two reasons: 1) in his lifetime, oskar pastior saved every penny for a foundation that was meant to financially support 2) experimental, innovative poets. oswald easily lived up to this criterion, as what he read fortright sounded like sylvia plath on LSD: "Ich igelte mich ein wie ein Iltisknauf", "so schopf-, so schädelblanke Felsen", "Ich sah durch die Toten nur Sonne und Knochen, nichts sonst". while oswald's imagery was richer than anything else i had heard in a long time, and while his recital was fantastic, i thought he did miss a timely ending. our minds spun in spite of his (sometimes probably unintendedly) humorous passages, so that following his verbal detours became increasingly difficult.

michael donhauser, who was second to read, had a better gut feeling there. his reading was to the point and sincere. like last time at the lyrikerempfang, it seemed he had dislocated the alphabet in order for it to become landscapes that recall own memories. (work sample.) 

franz josef czernin, who had been the first poet to read, struggled with turning the old idea of the four elements (that he chose to wrap in the old corset of the sonnet) into something modern. a highlight: "Mein Schauen ging (...) nicht verloren." thereafter, he presented his edits of three more poems in a slide show. this was very interesting to see at first, but i found that the novelty of the idea wore off quickly - probably because he had up to fifty slides to show for each poem; or maybe because he flicked through them so fast that even when you wanted to follow his wordplay, you couldn't.

my overall verdict: a worthwile, interesting reading.

reading tonight: eggers, donhauser, czernin

at the literaturhaus berlin. 8 pm. more info here.

german language difficult language - how is it that so few german novels get translated?

yesterday night i attend a panel discussion on the very broad topic of german translations at the literaturwerkstatt berlin. i'll do my best to give you a quick roundup here.

the discussants were katy derbyshire, who is a professional tranlsator, tilman rammstedt, who won the bachmannpreis 2008 and made this awesome video about his winning story Der Kaiser von China, helge malchow, who is the CEO at publishing house kiepenheuer & witsch (he brought along hist best mate maxim biller), and hans-ulrich treichel who is one of the three heads of the deutsche literaturinstitut leipzig (DLL) and a rather famous author in his own right. moderated by literary critic hubert winkels, who is part of the bachmannpreis 2010 jury, the panel tried to answer the question why so few german publications penetrate the international book market. this question was not answered, of course, but the discussion was still interesting to follow.

malchow explained that the cultural eradication and deprivation during and after the second world war might have caused a backlog with the german people that ultimately led to a great openness regarding all sorts of art and literature. after all, malchow estimated, 50% of KiWi's programme are made up of works written by foreign authors. if it's so easy for them to get published here, why are not half of all published books on foreign markets authored by germans?

certainly not because writers like rammstedt, whose novel has been translated into "six or seven" languages, come to the conclusion that, apart from accompanying commercial aspects, translations "aren't desirable". and probably not because as katy suggested, "german books that aren't about nazis or secret agents just don't interest foreign publishers". they aren't interested, because the limited horizon of our younger authors, as paraphrased by treichel, does not allow for what malchow was looking for in new voices, originality and life experience. (that's what they always say, isn't it, until someone like helene hegemann turns up!) "our authors come to DLL right from school", treichel said, "they shouldn't worry about the literary industry. and anyway, as yet not one newbie has come to me with the desire to be well-known internationally". wow, i thought, these are surprising points from someone dandling one of the largest cradles of german literary talent! only very few people my age that i know have something i would call a locally limited horizon, and most of us put great effort into building international careers. we are interested in many things, and - if i may say so - a far cry from the ethno-centric mindset that might have shaped the thinking of today's average sixty year old.

the assumptions that newer german literature has nothing say just cannot be true. instead, publishers' decisions are influenced by different factors, a kind that, sadly, my generation knows all too well: soft skills and networking! (at this point, bachmannpreis nominee dorothee elmiger taps me on the shoulder, asking whether she could take a look at my event programme? uhm, sure.)

often times translators themselves suggest books they like to their editors, making costly assessment reports redundant for publishers. or it is one particular book that opens a market, like umberto eco's The Name of the Rose that paved the way into the world market for other works of italian fiction.

today, even for internationally established german writers the going is rough: handke, for example, sells only 4.000 novels a year in the US, and these are likely to be the ones that belong to universities and public libraries, malchow assumes. he explains how it is next to impossible to establish accomplished younger writers like christian kracht overseas - not to mention newcomers.

treichel says he once heard people say a book needed to literally travel in order for it to become interesting for the international market (this made me think of crammed and dusty second hand traveller's book stores in south east asia), but we germans "aren't writing to entertain people", after all.

which brings right up the question that i have been asking myself all along: why is no one talking content? katy tried, of course - but has it never occurred to anyone that the world might just not be interested in our often sprawling, precocious content? is intellectualism un-dress up-able?

at least in the US, the number of european translations declines steadily. quite possibly, this has to do at least partly with the global tendency to buy, and thus publish, fewer books. readers nowadays are very likely to gather whatever they're interested in from the internet - aided by services like google books, initiatives like Bachmann Goes Europe and blogs like mine that target culturally interested people across borders (even though my content is berlin-heavy admittedly). also, we must not forget that while the US population is almost four times bigger than ours and therefore should haveat least the same quota of published writers we do, the US already in 2005 only published less than double the number of books than germany did in 2007 (source). [more evidence on my musings here.]

as you can see, the matter is complicated... and who's going to translate this article into german now?

next reading: klagenfurt

as part of the supporting programme of the Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur 2010, i'll be reading from my novella Andosina in klagenfurt on 25 june 2010. together with martin fritz who is partly responsible for the austrian text ohne reiter (or check out his twitter). i'm looking forward to this event and would love to see you there at 7.30 pm! more info on our reading here.

now and then, a poem by billy collins

michel houellebecq on why he is creative

new to WOAW: Flattr !

this morning while sitting at the doctor's, i received my Flattr invite. i still mustn't type with my right hand, so please just watch the video above to find out what Flattr is all about. i think it's a fantastic service and hope many of you will appreciate the idea, sign up and share the love!

(picture taken from postsecret.)

WOAW @ Mädchenmannschaft

How could I miss the posting of my own WWW Girls interview over at the Mädchenmannschaft on 15 April 2010? Oh well. Thank you for having me, Helga!

(picture taken from postsecret.)

once more with feeling

DIE ZEIT has an impressively well-written, albeit typically arrogant, reactive statement by helene hegemann (or here). let's hope the woman is seeing a capable therapist - her life seems a little too much.

tenosynovitis

i have this, so i'm forced to take a break. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice. i mustn't type until further notice.

new blog + reading

KOOKbook's jan böttcher and andreas töpfer have started their own blog.

if you're free thursday night, you might want to check out this reading. guests: martina hefter, johanna straub, serhij zhadan. music by jan böttcher.

8 pm, kvartira 62, lübbener str. 18, berlin - kreuzberg, 3 €

Post veröffentlichen

studie

gut ich habe ein pony pferd aufgezäumt
das am holzstand wie hiess der noch gleich
auf mich wartete habe es angefasst um völlig
sicherzugehen dass es war was es war und
ich habe das pferd zebra in einzelnen linien
vor mir gesehen es war ein gerastertes tier
und sein schweif war geknotet an den eines
anderen zebras esels der aus einem ohr
zu mir sprach und da wusste ich wie rum der
sattel gehörte und legte ihn neben ihn hin.

(picture taken from picturesofwalls)

post aus südost

Post aus Südost is an interesting new project: an online magazine for poetry from southeast europe both in its original language and in german. the first issue still reads like a student newspaper (see this simple, but touching poem), but who knows what might become of it later. plus, one can never have enough online poetry, right?

Andosina

remember the novella i was editing last summer? well, after sixteen edits altogether, it's finally finished [UPDATE: and available here].

it's in german and prose-y, and it's called Andosina.

with forty-eight norm pages, however, the manuscript's length (or brevity, rather) just won't make it an ordinary novel...

so my question is: does anyone know anyone who could be interested in publishing the story in spite of its unusual format? i'd be super grateful for ideas (!) and would love to send out excerpts...

anyone? please?

short notice: lauter niemand magazine launch tonight

this evening, lauter niemand hosts a launch party for the edition i'm featured in (#10). there will be readings and drinks. more info here or on facebook. come by if you can.

8 pm, fehrbelliner str. 6, berlin - prenzlauer berg, 5 €

'i want to change my novel to present tense. is there some microsoft word thing to do that?' (tao lin)

DIE ZEIT has a very interesting article on literature and the internet called Hyperlinks sind out.

wo die zeit hingeht

in deine arme. in die kraft die
unsre haare zieht und unsre
köpfe in der amazonaswelt
fest über wasser hält. ins freisein.
nimmt uns an die hand. wir sind
das weite unentdeckte land. das
haus am uferrand in das das
leben jedes jahr im sommer flieht.
sie geht ins gleichgewichtsgefühl
des schmetterlings der vor dem
fenster achterrunden zieht.
vergeht ins bleiben. alles ist ein
teil von allen teilen. zeit wird du
und ich im urwald hängend eines
abends zwischen nassen blättern
schwingend an den seilen.

(picture taken from picturesofwalls.)

ancient poetry blog (anno 2006)

here.

'a drifting cloud is just a drifting cloud'

in front of an audience of about forty people, catherine hales launched her poetry collection 'hazard or fall' at cosy café hilde yesterday night [see this post], and i thought her reading was very satisfactory: not too long, not too short, neither boring nor incomprehensible (although reading somewhat slower would have helped). i like catherine's rather prosaic style, it just makes enjoying her poems so much easier - especially when they were put into context through little personal anecdotes: knowing, for example, that as a kid catherine wanted to become an archaeologist, sheds a whole new light on her work, too.

highlights:
'it's when you part your lips that the problems begin'
'our lives crossed like the shadow of a bird in flight' 
'why have a thousand gods when one is one too many?'
'the creatures crawl into their caves, expire'

"singularität ist [...] auch ein irrtum"

ron winkler answered a couple of questions about his new poetry collection Frenetische Stille at fixpoetry.com.

two top literary events in berlin this wednesday

this event !!! HAS BEEN POSTPONED !!! is particularly interesting, as it addresses an important topic: how much religion is good for our kids? helge nyncke, the illustrator of "Wo bitte geht's zu Gott?", will be reading from the book that the German Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women & Youth tried to index because of its critical engagement with religion (but didn't succeed! check this brief spiegel article), and also from „Susi Neunmalklug erklärt die Evolution“. 
instead there will be some discussion about the future of the catholic church. no reading now!!!
14 april 2010, 6.30 pm, club der volkssolidarität, torstr. 203 -205, 10115 berlin - prenzlauer berg

WORTHY ALTERNATIVE --> catherine hales will be launching her new poetry collection 'hazard or fall' at café hilde. i got a little sneak peak of her work the other day and can assure you that, if you like english poetry, you will enjoy this event. try gistsandpiths for some samples of her work. plus, from what i can tell, two thirds of the berlin poetry scene will assemble there.
wed, 14 april 2010, 7.30 pm, café hilde, metzer str. 22, 10405 berlin - prenzlauer berg

#fail

i was meaning to attend the danaghie & co poetry reading last night so that i could write about it here, but the restaurant took forever to prepare our food (just around the corner! we sat down at 8 pm!) and when we got to the location at 9.30 pm it was packed and there was no way to get in without interrupting. [phew, that was a long sentence!] so i just waved hi to kim through the window and buggered off... what a shame, sorry joseph!

short notice: event in berlin tonight

the lettrétage hosts swiss poet pietro montorfani tonight. an actor will be reading from his work. 5€ cover charge, start 7.30 pm. more info here.

(picture taken from postsecret.)

three literary events in berlin this week

wed, 07 april 2010, 8.30 pm, st. george's bookshop, woerther str. 27, 10405 berlin - prenzlauer berg, free!
great idea: monthly read-around! more info here.

thu, 08 april 2010, 8 pm, literaturwerkstatt, knaackstr. 97, 10435 berlin - prenzlauer berg, 5€
john mateer and jan wagner. poetry reading in english and german. more info here. 

fri, 09 april 2010, 9 pm, cafe 'alice gryphius', gryphiusstr. 10, 10245 berlin - friedrichshain, free!
gunter scholtz, gerhard schneibel & joseph danaghie. poetry reading in english and german.

happy easter, everyone!

(picture taken in peru by ariane, who is sailing the world on suleika.)

twitter preview on WOAW

as you might have already noticed, i've added a twitter widget to the blog's sidebar. if WOAW loads a little slower on your browser now, that's the reason. the idea was to keep you up to date with thoughts and news that never become blog posts even if you aren't on twitter yourselves. if you are on twitter already, but too lazy to check back on my page every day, this feature might be of use to you, too. i also plan to update the sidebar altogether some time later this year, sort through the link list, add blogs like ron winkler's, that kind of stuff. don't worry if WOAW looks a little different from time to time, i'll be sure to let you know when i'm done...

three events in berlin and toronto this week

in BERLIN, there are two readings this week: there's another interesting KOOKread event on

thu, 01 april 2010, 8 pm, kvartira no. 62, lübbener str. 18, 10997 berlin - kreuzberg, ?€

annika scheffel, björn kern and ron winkler will be introducing their new books. more info here.

and then there's philip sington reading from his recent novel "The Einstein Girl" at st. george's bookshop in prenzlauer berg.

wed, 31 march 2010, 9 pm, st. george's bookshop, woerther str. 27, 10405 berlin, no cover charge.

 

in TORONTO the BARRACUDA anthology celebrates its launch. (a cool writers-in-school program, more info here!) 

wed, 31 march 2010, 7 - 9 pm, gardiner museum, 11 queens park, toronto (ontario), no cover charge.

i'm in the new lauter niemand

in my mail today i received three voucher copies of the current lauter niemand 10th anniversary edition. i've been featured with a long poem i wrote in 2007 called "tanz aus narkose", alongside people like johann reißer and monika rinck.

i dug out the last paragraph of an older version of that poem for you:

ich in tüll laken lackkleid nag am fensterrahmen bricht licht in triangelstrahlen staub wendet sich blendet und ich urban es urbakterium will unter wasser ober flächen molekül sein mir von dir mit spitzen lippen zeigen lassen wie die fische machen algen mähen zwischen heiligen korallen mit dir fieberpirouetten drehen in tiefsee kissengraben sinken auferstehen als dampf noch einmal durch die nacht als regen wieder niedergehen...

[very, very roughly, this could be something like:

i in tulle sheets varnish dress gnaw on the window frame breaks light in triangle rays dust turns blinds and i urban it ur-bacterium wanna be under water over surface molecule wanna be taught by you with lips pursed how the fish make mow algae inbetween holy corals dance fever pirouettes with you sink into deep sea pillow trenches resurge through the night once more as steam once more as rain alight...]

one of last year's poems reworked

wir haben ein sternbild gesehen:

da endet die welt und die faust die

die kabel an die unser leben gerät

hält ist männlich . man war

fünfmarkstückgroß in eine wand

genagt für ratten die leitung

um leitung gekannt hatten abfall

als kunst in die sphären gehoben .

weit hinten verriet uns ein unruhiges

mädchen geheimnisse über das irdischsein .

[rough translation:

we'd seen a constellation:
there ends the world and the fist
that's been holding the cables that 
sustain our lives has been male . 
one was a hole chewed into some wall
five deutschmarks wide for rats
who knew the wires praised all 
rubbish into highest spheres .
at the very back an anxious girl
gave away secrets on being terrestrial .]

(picture taken from postsecret.)

two readings, one review, and my big mouth

this week, i went to two readings: alistair's and peter's, and the one alexander gumz organised for the launch of his and moritz schramm's ny tysk poesi anthology (arena verlag, kopenhagen, 2009). both were good events and sold out deservedly so.

dialogue berlin provided a great venue, and its owner sharmaine was a great hostess - i'm sure we'll be hearing much more about her events and initiatives soon. i always enjoy literary events in english, as the authors and audience tend to not take themselves as seriously as most germans: a little more fun, a little less intellectual masturbation... which takes me right to the reading on wednesday:

like i said before, the line-up was impressive - and its proximity to KOOKbooks undeniable. one gets the impression that alexander gumz has a couple of people on his speed dial that he rings up whenever reading slots need to be filled. while this is understandable, i would have loved to hear people like raphael urweider or nico bleutge read for a change, poets that are also featured in the anthology, but that you don't hear of as much.

highlights of the reading included:

"oh, danke, nacht, geh heim nach finnland"  ["oh, thank you, night, go home to finland"] - steffen popp
"dein kanarienvogel sah heute so seltsam aus" ["your canary looked somewhat strange today"] - daniel falb
"schön wäre ein regen nach oben" ["i'd like an upward rain"] - ron winkler

free poetry reading in hamburg tomorrow

tom schulz, gerald fiebig, richard duraj, and jinn pogy will be reading to celebrate the brand new edition of randnummer magazine tomorrow:

sat, 27 march, 8 pm, POW galerie, haubachstr. 7a, hamburg - free of charge!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY, WOAW!

WORDS ON A WATCH turns three today, and for me that means party introspection: how has the internet changed the way we writers work? as this is quite a complicated question, i'm glad sibylle berg has already answered it generally here, so i'll be ok to just speak for myself:

to me, the internet is

...a space to express myself in a myriad of ways, to get active and launch projects like the #50bookschallenge or girls can blog
...my very own trade fair - networking through facebook and twitter has never been easier than today. i've just started sorting the people i follow into lists, perhaps they're of use to you, too? 
...my mobile notebook-anthology-brain-hard drive-event calendar-desk-gallery. to me, the web is a very visual place that i like to hang out in
...a motivator to get things done. as is my readership. i think that if your number hadn't gone up steadily over time, i would have given up long ago
...an ideal place for feedback. both incoming (examples here, here, and there) and outgoing (like here by myself and here by guest commentator oliver bottini). i love feedback and guest articles, so please keep them coming!
...an ideal place for announcements, too, like here and here.*

basically, WOAW is still a personal poetry blog, thick with opinion. if you're here for my poems only and never know where to look for them, click here and save that link. the newest poem will always come first. watch out, though, not all of them are ready for press just yet; from time to time i put up stuff just because i was so glad i had written anything at all. my writing periods are usually intense, as is my current writer's block. i don't have control over either.

i was going to go into last year's WOAW birthday speech a little more, but when i just read it, it sounded awfully negative. i think i was in a pretty bad place then and am very glad that i could move on from there in the second half of 2009. i went on said literary journey to zagreb, spoke to an agent (only to find out my novella was too short for publication still), and got published in important media like lyrikmail. i wonder what 2010 has up its sleeve...

thanks in any case for sticking around!
annina

*it seems like i forgot to annouce that i got published in the current edition of [sic] magazine? oops!

it's reading week

besides the poetry reading on wednesday i recommended yesterday, there's also sibylle lewitscharoff discussing adolph freiherr knigge's work in charlottenburg:  

wed, 24 march 2010, 8 pm, literaturhaus berlin - großer saal

more info at the literaturhaus berlin.

and for everyone who doesn't feel like going to alistair noon's poetry reading on thursday, try fadi saad in berlin - wedding. his reading will take place at the medienhof, a project i freelance with, and it was organised by the kids we teach; the cover charge is only 1 €, and money is generally appreciated there as funding is hard to find even for established organisations like this one. (more info on fadi's book at herder verlag. photo by rebecca @ DIE FREIE LANZE.)

thu, 25 march 2010, 6 pm, medienhof wedding, prinzenallee 25/ 26, 3. hof

THE poetry reading this week

the poetry event this week (besides peter riley's and alistair noon's reading on thursday) will be taking place on

wed, 24 march 2010, 7.30 pm, methfesselstr. 23-25, 10965 berlin - kreuzberg, ca. 5€

ann cotten, daniel falb, steffen popp, monika rinck, and ron winkler will be reading from their work to celebrate the launch of a bi-lingual danish anthology of german contemporary poetry: Ny tysk poesi - 13 tyske lyrikere, alexander gumz & moritz schramm (hrsg.), arena verlag, kopenhagen 2009.

(picture taken from postsecret.)

siri hustvedt tv documentary

tomorrow, 21 march 2010, arte will be airing a siri hustvedt documentary at 5 pm. more info and rerun times here. (via bluetenleser)

recent work by michael donhauser [WOAW exclusive!]

as a reaction to my post on the lyrikerempfang at berlin's red city hall, michael donhauser was not only nice enough to get in touch and thank me for my words, but in fact he sent me the prose-poems he read that night! i am overjoyed to be able to present to you my favourite one - they aren't available anywhere else on the web, so guess how honoured i feel?

if you like the one below, read another poem by michael donhauser called "Dich noch und" at urs engeler editor.
(photo by ute schendel)

Anfänglich erst neigten sich die Rosen, da die Dahlien standen, sich entblätterten die Zweige, dass in Farben stieg, was sommerlich spät war und warm noch ein Weichen, als wäre, da zogen wie Vögel die Schatten, ein Wiegen das Bleiben und leise im Laub, wenn es sank, wenn sich füllten mit Röte, gelblich die Birnen wie Äpfel oder lagen im Gras, gärend unter der gelichteten Krone, da ein Wind hob nicht und brach kaum und einzeln nur wanken liess und lose eine Ranke, eine Wicke am rostenden Zaun. 

(copyright by michael donhauser)

rené hamann poetry reading: the highlights

"entmüdungsbecken"  [de-tiredation pool]
"subroutine"  [sub-routine]
"der anschlagende blick"  [the assaulting look]
"stadtkrank und faul"  [citysick, bum]

tonight: rené hamann poetry reading

rené hamann, one of my favorite berlin poets, will be reading from his recent poetry collection "Berge und Täler, davon Männer und Frauen" tonight. i'll be there, hoping he won't mind i stole this picture from facebook.... who owns the photo credits, rené?

monarch, skalitzer str. 134, 10999 berlin - kreuzberg, 8.15 pm

short notice: gerald stern poetry reading tonight!

famous american poet gerald stern and his translator thomas pletzinger will be reading from stern's new poetry collection Alles brennt tonight.

adler & söhne - supernova, stargarderstr. 24, berlin - prenzlauer berg, 8 pm

poetry and politics: nigeria

my friend okey uzoechina from nigeria wrote a poem dedicated to the innocent victims of the recent ethno-religious crises in the country: "November 2009, January 2010, March 2010, and the ones yet to come". 

i am publishing it not because okey and i went to uni together, but because his poem is inspired by lacks of effective state politics and their resulting in death and destruction. i am not even going to get started on inter-religious dialogue here - it's just all so sad!

i am ashamed to admit that up to today i was completely unaware of nigerian poetry and that the great majority of it seems to be inspired by politics. award winners remi raji (who writes in english) and wole soyinka (first african winner of the nobel prize in literature in 1986, editor of the praised anthology Poems of Black Africa) seem to be good further references if you're interested.

in any case, i'd like to thank okey for choosing poetry as one of his ways of working against violence. 

THE CROSS & THE CRESCENT

Sacred sires of two great nations
Hostile brothers of long consanguine connexion
Turned uneasy neighbours by sinister suspicion
Tell me, will their wars of vengeance ever cease?

Each takes a different direction
In its quest for the soul’s salvation
Yet both declare for the same destination
Tell me, which will enter the Pearly Gates?

They preach peace and love to all creation
And give opium-soaked minds camouflage consolation
As crimes and wars increase by multiplication
Tell me, wherein lies such gross hypocrisy?

When they partake in political communion
They cross swords with fanatical aggression
Like fiery fiends stirred to destruction
Tell me, does atrocity justify a crown of conquest?

They attract mammoth congregations
With cosy creeds of true redemption
But which will serve the divine intention—

The Cross or the Crescent?

martin suter tries a whole new position

via a friend i got a ticket for yesterday night's martin suter book premiere of Der Koch at the sold-out babylon cinema in berlin mitte. all i knew about martin was that one of his kids choked on a bite of sausage and that he was swiss. the woman next to me said his best book was Die dunkle Seite des Mondes (indeed a reference to pink floyd's dark side of the moon), in which some yuppie guy starts eating magic mushrooms. because there were so many people at the reading, the host asked the audience to abstain from making martin write too long a dedication at the book-signing afterwards. wow. and because of bad lighting, it took martin a while to figure out how best to hold his book in order to see properly and not blind the audience with his reading lamp. "hang on", he said, "i'm going to try a whole new position". i might be mistaken here, but i think that was his best sentence of the night. runner-ups from his novel: "her good looks not only helped her find a job, they also gave her a hard time keeping it." and "[there they sat,] all with their tall, thin, blond second wives." ha.

the novel itself still came across as an erotic cookbook, though, sprinkled with some flakes of international politics. and while i liked how wide parts of it were open-minded and well-written, and also the fact that martin read with a thick swiss accent that reminded me of home, i couldn't refrain from leaving the hall halfway through. oops.

facebook knows which german publishing houses we love

leander wattig of was mit büchern ranked the german publishing houses who have fan pages on facebook by the number of their fans:

winner (1200 fans as of 7 march 2010): Residenz Verlag
loser (3 fans as of 7 march 2010): W. Bertelsmann Verlag

another event: annika reich prose reading

annika reich is a friend of mine's cousin who has just published her second book, Durch den Wind, with Hanser. her first one is called Teflon and was published with Suhrkamp. i haven't read either, of course, as i barely read anything, really (as it is, i am behind on my own 50 books challenge!), but i suppose that my friend would not trick me into recommending something bad. so, if you're free that night, try annika on

thu, 11 march 2010, 8 pm, roter salon/ volksbühne, berlin - prenzlauer berg, 6€
(photo source: private)

poetry reading: peter riley and alistair noon

according to alistair noon's event description, ...

Peter Riley is widely regarded as one of the most important British poets writing today. Born in 1940 near Manchester, he has published books of poetry with, among others, Carcanet and Shearsman, most recently Greek Passages (Shearsman, 2009). His work has been described as “an extraordinary poetry, one which takes the techniques of modernism to almost a certain limit, yet retains the entire lyric and emotional intensity of the English tradition” (Mark Scroggins). As well as poetry, he has written studies of improvised music, lead mines, burial mounds and Transylvanian string bands.

alistair himself will be reading as well, namely ...

from his latest chapbook, In People’s Park, as well as from forthcoming publications. Founder of Poetry Hearings, Berlin’s annual English-language poetry festival, he has played an active role in the Anglophone literary scene of the city over the last few years. “I don't know any poet who flies about so carefreely, never alighting in the pigeonhole for long enough to become ringed” (Giles Goodland).

thu, 25 march 2010, 7 pm, the t room, christinenstr. 27, berlin - prenzlauer berg,  5€
please RSVP to events (at) dialogueberlin.com

girls can blog!

after thinking about the girls on the web issue a little harder, i decided to initiate GIRLS CAN BLOG, a whole blog dedicated to female activity online. actually, i wonder why i hadn't come up with the idea earlier on - as some of you might know, i wrote my M.A. thesis on 'cyberactivism and the female-led anti-war movement' back in 2008 already, and should have known that this here was an issue. better late than never, though! (please keep in mind that i've only just started - there will be much more to see for you in the coming weeks...)

heute neu: lyrikkritik-radio

heute, 02.03.10, 22.00 uhr, über lyrikkritik.de:
Gespräch mit dem Lyriker Steffen Popp über die lange Kunst der Vorbereitung – Gedanken zu den Zielen von Yoga und Lyrik

Programmvorschau:
09.03.10, 22.00 uhr, – Christian Filips über Paolo Pasolini und die Kunst des Mittelhochdeutschen in neuzeitlichen Übersetzungen

16.03.10, 22.00 uhr–Rosemarie Tietze über die Neuübersetzung von Anna Karenina und Lew Tolstojs Beziehung zu Gedichten
(text via lyrikkritik.de)

girls on the web: who are the must-reads?

(picture source)

via nadine lantzsch's thoughts on the matter, i stumbled across kontextschmiede's contribution to the current debate on the amount of actual influence female bloggers are exerting on today's society. i would like to seize the opportunity and raise awareness of the fact that the majority of bloggers featured on the blog charts (both german and international) have been male - just like most managers in most organizations. thus, in order to promote your favorite female bloggers, please feel free to add their link to this post's comment section - i'd love to host an international collection. should you need some inspiration, try blogtrepeneur's list of 100 must read blogs by women for a start.

i got hegemann-ed!

stephan reich, a reader of this blog, remixed a poem of mine:

und wenn ich dich nie

wieder sehe nie finde

ich frieden seither ich

dich misse was macht das

noch dass ich dich aus

diesem bett nicht

heraus & vergessen kann

nachts wenn am bahn

steig der wind &

dein haar mir den schlaf

nimmt wo einmal etwas

war keine hand so warm wie

im schnee deine an gleisen

zurück bis zu dir steht´s in

spuren im frost hast du mich

bereisen & wegweisen

können was tut´s das du

fehlst & die bahn dann

dein bild in der scheibe

manchmal keine hand

breit mehr weiter der

menschen leergelebte

gesichter die finger in hosen

taschen geborgen ich

erinnerte dich & stehe &

gehe alleine was macht

wohl die eine was macht das

jetzt noch?

i feel very flattered. thanks, stephan!

"das studio ist gegen das radio"

yesterday, as part of her reading at the hinterzimmer, sabine scho played her cool radio piece "grober rundfunk" (scroll down to download mp3). it was created for an interesting series called Literatur als Radiokunst produced by the ORF and curated by christiane zintzen.

i love austria for its willingness to experiment with text - the audience (and thus the industry) over there seems much more willing to accept progressive, unconventional ideas. there also seems to be allocated more aid money to literary projects than here. germany still has a long way to go in that respect!

more events: sabine scho and 'speak easy'

* don't forget today's sabine scho reading at the hinterzimmer at 4 pm

* next monthly 'speak easy' reading circle @ st. george's bookshop

KOOKREAD special: ann cotten, monika rinck & co.

please find below the original event description, shortened and garnished with a couple of links - i wouldn't want to promise too much, but this constellation of authors could make for an interesting evening:

thu, 4 march 2010, 8 pm

Ein Roman trifft auf sein Blog. Ulrich Schlotmann liest aus "Die Freuden
der Jagd" und spricht darüber mit Ann Cotten, Benedikt Ledebur, Monika Rinck und Ulf
Stolterfoht. (...) Danach gibt es Raum für Getränke und Gespräche.

(...) Auf der Flucht vor einer immer komplexer, immer unverständlicher werdenden
Welt begibt sich ein Mann in den Wald. Aber sein Weg zu dessen finsterem
Herzen, wo er mit sich und der Welt in Einklang zu leben hofft, entwickelt
sich in Ulrich Schlotmanns Roman "Die Freuden der Jagd" bald zum Trip in
die Abgründe der menschlichen Seele. (...)

Kvartira No. 62
Lübbener Str. 18
10997 Berlin

Eintritt: 3,- EUR

last year's winners: der lyrikerempfang 2009 im roten rathaus zu berlin

last night i attended an event called lyrikpreisträger 2009 in berlin's red town hall. the event was organized by the berlin literaturwerkstatt and, lucky you, i took a bunch of notes there. they might explain why i left halfway through.

1000 Preise für Prosa, 6 für Lyrik

thomas wohlfahrt, the head of the berlin literaturwerkstatt, claimed there are only awarded six prizes for poetry in germany every year. i am not sure exactly why only six, as prizes like the bi-annual dresdner lyrikpreis or the annual clemens-brentano-preis obviously didn't make it onto his list (Open Mike, Georg-Trakl-Preis, Peter-Huchel-Preis, Poesiepreis des Kulturkreises der deutschen Wirtschaft, Leonce-und-Lena-Preis, Ernst-Jandl-Preis).

lyrik braucht einen anders gearteten medialen auftritt (stimme?) "lyrik hat ihre sozialen orte verloren"
monika rink was quoted: "schluss mit den grabreden auf die lyrik!"

now, this is interesting. i wonder why nobody thought of the internet as an outlet for poetry. but it really is not just the web; i found this very interesting article on the maths of poetry the other day. david alpaugh claims that all in all, "approximately 86 million poems will be published in the 21st century" - now that's something, no?

then konstantin ames, the winner of 2009's open mike and a graduate of the dubious poetry hit factory of the deutsche literaturinstitut leipzig, read a couple of not-so-great lines like "sieht (...) noch nicht das loch im kopf stein pflaster" and used a couple of the obligatory words in contemporary german literature: "pisse, kot, nackt, urin, bang" sigh.

next was barbara köhler who must have tricked someone into thinking she can write impressed the experts very much. in the 1980s, she, too, had studied at the DLL. her first words on stage were "der text, den ich lese, ist nicht 'mal lyrik" and they were a huge turn-off. she started reading some incoherent words prose and in the light of the current debate on plagiarism here in germany, i was bothered by her book's title "niemands frau" which i previously knew both as a song by anouk of 1997 and a manuscript by jack kerouac's second wife, joan kerouac. also, barbara's delivery looked and sounded a lot like bas böttcher's (only much staler) and that didn't go down well with me, either. her best words were interferenz, wellen, löschen (two of the three previously known from, for example, hendrik jackson's perfect (!) poem rauschen). and for all that confusion brilliance the kulturkreis der deutschen wirtschaft awarded her 10.000 euros. wow.

finally, michael donhauser from switzerland, the winner of the georg trakl prize, read. i was relieved: he was by far the best poet, dressed much better than the previous two, and read much more clearly. i didn't mind him talking about fruit trees, nor his sparkling necklace, and i liked his rather corny choice of words: nacht, traum, verglimmen, tränen he read great, grown-up poetry that evaded kitsch yet still produced some credible emotion.

after donhauser everybody was thirsty and bored, and there should have been a break, but instead some musician continued right on. so when ferdinand schmatz, the winner of the ernst jandl prize, finished reading, i left. he had started off well, a little more experimental than donhauser, but seemed to lose track in the middle of his first poem somewhere: schall, nesseln, näselnde asseln - stampft her ins gestiefelte ... i just stampfed home.

thomas lang reading in charlottenburg

i was originally going to attend alexander gumz' poetry reading this coming thursday, when it was brought to my attention that thomas lang will be reading from his new novel 'bodenlos' in charlottenburg at the same time. back when it was published, DIE ZEIT praised 'bodenlos' for lang's prose, which is why i'd like to go and have a listen. come as well, if you can!

details: 25.02., 8.30 pm, buchhändlerkeller, carmerstr. 1, 10623 berlin

the longest german words

dirk ploss knows 'em. his source: Der Duden.

(picture taken from postsecret.)

diagram prize for the oddest book title of the year: the shortlist

the bookseller has the shortlist here. you may vote for your favorite until 26 march. in comparison to the shortlist of 2007, though, this year's is really not all that funny.

find all winners since 1978 on wikipedia. my favorites include "highlights in the history of concrete" (1994) and "if you want closure in your relationship, start with your legs" (2007).

garnitur

drohsessel neben dem hausofa vor einem
autschtisch . hast füße aufs plättchen
getreten da liegen sie nun . ich sag erstens
wie leid es mir tut oder nicht dass
zweitens das alles hier ist .
diese anordnung um eine angst .
in der schale die kekse unknusprig
der vorwurfshang offen . die aussichten
draussen sind ewig und ewiger noch
ist das polsternste samt . den nacken
im wutkissen dreh ich den hallenden rest
des alarms zwischen uns in der hand

reading: alexander gumz, ulrike draesner and aleš šteger

25.02.10, 20.00 uhr @ Kvartira No. 62, Lübbener Str. 1, 10997 Berlin.

more info here.

diagram prize for the oddest book title of the year

in four days, the bookseller magazine will release the short list for its annual prize for the oddest book title of the year. until then, check out the long list (scroll down to skip the article) published by the guardian earlier this month.

"Willkommen in Absurdistan: Hegemann für Leipzig nominiert" - Ein Kommentar von Oliver Bottini

Über Qualität kann und soll man streiten. Manche mögen Helene Hegemanns "Axolotl Roadkill" für großartig und literarisch halten, manchen rollen sich bei der Lektüre die Zehennägel hoch. Das ist in Ordnung, denn was gefällt, ist subjektiv – selbst wenn die, denen es gefällt, beeindruckende literarische Geschütze ins Feld fahren, um die behauptete Qualität zu objektivieren (was naturgemäß nicht gelingt).

Über Plagiate dagegen kann und soll man nicht streiten. Seit Tagen weiß man, dass Hegemann sowohl wörtlich bei anderen Autoren abgeschrieben als auch fremde Ideen ungefragt verwendet hat. Wie kann eine exquisit besetzte Jury einen Roman für einen wichtigen Literaturpreis nominieren, wenn ihr bekannt ist, dass die Autorin Urheberrechte verletzt und bei anderen, erst nachträglich benannten Autoren abgekupfert hat?

Dass der Roman vor den Plagiatsvorwürfen auf die Shortlist für den Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse gekommen ist – nun gut, das muss man nicht verstehen, aber akzeptieren (s.o.). Die Veröffentlichung der Shortlist jedoch fand am gestrigen Donnerstag (11.2.) statt, als die Plagiate längst nachgewiesen waren. Trotzdem hat die Jury den Roman nicht von der Liste gestrichen, und das ist dreist und skandalös. Man mag seinen Ohren und Augen kaum trauen: Die Jury-Vorsitzende Verena Auffermann rechtfertigte die Entscheidung am Donnerstag gegenüber der dpa damit, dass "'diese junge Frau [...] unserer Auffassung nach extrem begabt'" sei und Hegemanns Verlag bestätigt habe, "dass im Urheberrechtsstreit 'alles einen ordentlichen Weg geht'". (SPIEGEL) Juristisch betrachtet mag das stimmen, falls tatsächlich alle Genehmigungen nun eingeholt und die Urheber adäquat bezahlt werden. Literarisch betrachtet ist diese Aussage ein Armutszeugnis, schließlich lässt sich angesichts der Arbeitsweise der "begabten Autorin" schwerlich nachvollziehen, welche Sätze, Wörter, Figuren, Plots originär ihrer Fantasie entstammen und welche der Fantasie anderer.

Die Jury-Entscheidung bringt den Preise der Leipziger Buchmesse in Verruf, die Jury sowieso, dazu einen Gutteil der Buchbranche mit Verlagen, Agenten und Feuilletonisten – allerorten hört und liest man verschwurbelte Rechtfertigungen, Ausreden, Beschwichtigungen. Plagiat? Ach, alles halb so wild. Und man beginnt im Elfenbeinturm, sich über die Aufregung zu amüsieren – der Skandal als "lustige Abschreib-Affäre" (DIE ZEIT), Hegemann auf einem "lobenswert unordentlichen Pfad" (SPIEGEL).

Ja, habt ihr sie noch alle?

Oliver Bottini

"i'd like to thank my parents and the internet"

helene hegemann is a german seventeen-year-old who has put together written a book on sex and drugs that has a very weird title. given these three factors and a decent marketing campaign, it doesn't come as a surprise that the book became a bestseller within weeks of publication. when a blogger from munich discovered, however, that wide parts of her book were copied from another blogger from berlin, the scandal was perfect. if it was a scandal at all, of course, and not just another ole marketing trick.

i wasn't originally going to comment on her work (i'm still not intending to read it), but after coming across helene's meddlesome apology where she says that she's habitually stealing inspiration from anyone, and that that was how the youth after the year 2000 operated, i would like to take the opportunity and disagree with her: just because you move about in cyberspace at your peer group's own liking, you're not allowed to randomly incorporate into your work whatever it is you might take a fancy to along the way. certainly not without indication of source, anyway.

building your reputation on other people's ideas (the final letter in helene's book appears to be a translation of the lyrics to a song called fuck you by archive) is not ok at all. but how could a teenager have known better? well, at least the feature writers who have praised her literary talent (DIE ZEIT, FAZ, ...) should have. bad enough that her publishing house practically denies responsibility concerning helene's plagiarism, stating that 'the author hasn't elaborated on sources used and by that underestimated the consequences of her decision to use citations from the net' (source) - as if contracting teenagers to sell them out aid their career automatically made the kids themselves responsible for surviving on the literary market.

as much as i hope for helene that she will understand her mistakes and will start to value other people's artistic work in a decent manner, i hope that she will leave the shark tank of the literary business as self confident as she dived into it. and as for sukultur, the publishing house that published the book where helene helped herself, and airen, its author, i hope they will collect adequate compensation. (press release regarding the matter on sukultur's homepage.)


UPDATE + + check out my friend katy's blog, too, she has a different opinion! + + UPDATE

"a poet can survive everything but a misprint."

oscar wilde via peakepoetics.

someone at st. george's (berlin) had a really good idea:

'SPEAK EASY' - A MONTHLY READ-AROUND AT ST. GEORGE'S BOOKSHOP

Following a 2008 event to commemorate the work of David Foster Wallace,
where people read excerpts of his writings, St George's Bookshop has
organised a series of monthly readings. The idea is simple.

If you've ever read a piece of writing (non-fiction, fiction, essay, prose,
poetry, dialogue, monologue, whatever) that you've admired and which you'd
like to share, then this is the event for you.

Anyone can read an extract (of up to 3 pages), in any format, in any
language, on any topic, perhaps with a brief explanation of what this author
or piece of writing means to you. If you're not sure about reading something
yourself, you can ask someone else to do it for you. There'll probably be a
microphone, and the event should be as drone-free as possible. If you want
to read, just come along at eight with your book, and we'll take it from
there.

To give you an idea, MC Jabber will kick off the first event with two short
dialogues, from David Foster Wallace's 'The Broom of the System' and
Jonathan Safran Foer's 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'.


Wednesday 10th February
Start: 20.30 // Admission: FREE (Children: half price)
// Drinks: 1.50euro

St. George's English Bookshop
Woerther Str. 27
10405 Berlin
030 81798333

U2 Senefelderplatz
M2 tram (Prenzlauer Allee/Marienburger Strasse)

literary tattoos

a whole blog devoted to them! how awesome is that?

HAM.LIT event details

here. or here for that matter.

currently reading as part of the #50bookschallenge: 'slaughterhouse five' by kurt vonnegut