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.