The 11th International Literature Festival Berlin (internationales literaturfestival berlin) is in full swing with its typically amazing lineup of writers and events. The focus this year is Asia/Pacific and with the 10th anniversary of 9/11 coming in the middle of the festival there is bound to be a lot of discussion surrounding the myriad of issues related to terrorism and political upheaval in the Middle East, such as this September 9th panel with Pankaj Mishra and Tahar Ben Jelloun.
Other writers I would be going to see if anyone had bothered to invite me to the festival are Javier Cercas presenting “Anatomy of a Moment”and Czech author Tomáš Zmeškal speaking about the experiences of people of African descent in communist countries as depicted in his novel “The Life Story of a Black and White Lamb” ( Životopis černobílého jehněte), which has yet to be translated into English.
I would also
go see Gary Shteyngart, Andrey Kurkov, Antonio Muñoz Molina and Jarolav Rudiš, who I will be interviewing following the festival on the occasion of the opening of the animated film “Alois Nebel,” which he co-wrote.
The festival will close with a reading by Nobel Prize laureat Mario Vargas Llosa from his latest novel “El Sueno del Celta”
Photos – Jarolav Rudiš © Petr Hlousek, Andrey Kurkov © Elizabeth Sharp-Kurkov
Feature photo – The winning photo of the 2010 ilb photo competition by Ciarán Butler ©Ciarán Butler
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