Author: MK

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What does an anchor-institution do?

(c) Natalia Reich

The Lettrétage is an anchor-institution of the independent literature scene in Berlin. This means that we:

  • provide free spaces for evening events, such as readings, performances, or panel discussions.

  • offer free spaces for daytime use, such as writing groups, editorial meetings, or workshops

  • take care of the technical aspects and beverages for evening events and assist in promoting the events.

  • organize free professional consultations for those involved in writing, translating, editing, or organizing literature.

  • host the “Industry Meetup: Literature” once a year. Those professionally engaged in literature can find like-minded individuals for exchange and networking.

  • initiate projects that explore ways to innovate and redefine literature.
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April at Lettrétage

(c) Redfern Jon Barrett; Victor Breidenbach and Siena Miller;
Soul and the City; Oliver Toth

April at Lettrétage is all about numbers. In Redfern Jon Barret’s novel PROUD PINK SKY, which will be presented on April 1, Berlin has grown to 24 million inhabitants. It’s the first gay nation of the world, divided into neighborhoods for each sexual orientation. Cissie loves Berlin’s towering high rises and chaotic multiculturalism, yet she’s never left her heterosexual district — not until she discovers a walled-off slum of perpetual twilight, home to the city’s forbidden trans residents.

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“She manages to explore complex political issues through compelling scenes and dialogues” – Interview with Lucy Jones on her translation of Brigitte Reimann’s DIE GESCHWISTER

(c) Oliver Toth

Almost exactly 50 years ago, Brigitte Reimann, considered one of the most important female writers in the GDR, died of cancer, aged 39. It’s hard to think of a better way to mark the anniversary of her death than the one Lucy Jones has chosen: translating Reimann’s novel DIE GESCHWISTER into English for the first time. SIBLINGS, as it is titled in English, has been recently published by Penguin Classics and Transit Books, and received wide media coverage, ranging from the Guardian to the New Yorker. The novel is about how the division of Germany affected Reimann’s family personally. We are beyond proud that Lucy Jones is going to present and discuss her translation at Lettrétage on 16 April together with the journalist and writer, Alexander Wells. Here is an interview she gave us on translating Reimann’s work.

Continue reading ““She manages to explore complex political issues through compelling scenes and dialogues” – Interview with Lucy Jones on her translation of Brigitte Reimann’s DIE GESCHWISTER”
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March at Lettrétage

Copyright: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (c) Joerg Kandziora; Heather Parry (c) Dave Parry; Joseph Roth (c) Lotte Altmann

What our English-language events have in common this month is love: a strange love that lasts beyond the grave, a love-hate relationship with a city, and the first love of a girl who becomes a woman. When love and the grave are mentioned in the same breath, the gothic novel is not far away. Heather Parry’s ORPHEUS BUIDLS A GIRL draws on this genre to unfold a tale of deranged obsession. Joseph Roth did not like Berlin. At the same time, it can be said that the years he spent in the German capital were one of the most successful periods of his career. WHAT WE SEE: JOSEPH ROTH AND OUR BERLIN features a discussion of Roth, his life and his feuilletons, as well as readings of texts inspired by him. THE FIRST WOMAN by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi tells a cross-generational story about growing up, first love, being and becoming a woman, and the search for one’s own roots. A story between traditional and modern feminisms against the backdrop of Idi Amin’s violent regime in Uganda in the 1970s.

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February at Lettrétage

(c) Gurmeet Singh; Soul and the City

February at Lettrétage lets our English-speaking audience forget the cold and bitterness of the Berlin winter: You cannot only enjoy a Mediterranean flare and lots of magic but also an atmosphere of amazing vibrations, good times, inherent hope and love manifestations. But before anyone becomes overstimulated, the program brings you down to earth with an evening dedicated to the meaning of ‘humble’. Sounds like over the top? See for yourself by attending either 8¾# Poetic Hafla, Babylon – The Event of Many Tongues and Cultures – A Valentine’s Special Edition or Humble.