Writer Tommie Goerz raves about the “beautiful atmosphere in the palace garden”. He was always at the Erlangen Poets Festival, he says, adding: “as a guest”. He considers it “a great honor” that he was invited this year to read from his novel “Im Tal” at the 43rd edition of the literature festival, which is unique in Germany.
From Thursday, August 24th to Sunday, August 27th, the start of the German autumn book season will be celebrated in the Erlangen Castle Gardens. More than 100 writers, journalists and scientists have announced their coming. The focus is on the readings in the palace garden. Everyone is allowed to read for 30 minutes, after which they are interviewed for 30 minutes on a side stage. In addition to Tommie Goerz, Nico Bleutge, Mirko Bonné, Yevgeniy Breyger, Lion Christ, Elena Fischer, Charlotte Gneuss, Bachmann Prize winner Valeria Gordeev, Dinçer Güçyeter, Sibylla Vričić Hausmann, Marlen Hobrack, Sabrina Janesch, Michael Kleeberg, Angelika Klüssedorf, Nele Pollatschek, Kathrin Roeggla, Raoul ScrapPeter Stamm, Ilija Trojanow and Deniz Utlu read out from their new releases.
But that’s just one item on the program of the Erlangen Poetry Festival. The workshop meeting of translators is also taking place for the 19th time. Guests are Björn Adelmeier, Yevgeniy Breyger, Ulrike Draesner, Radna Fabias, Sandra Israel-Niang, Dagmara Kraus, Jean-René Lassalle, Thomas Weiler and Christian Filips, who also received the tenth Erlangen Literature Prize for poetry as a translation. The special prize of the jury is presented to Franz Josef Czernin. As every year, there are also authors in Erlangen who specialize in children’s and youth literature – Beate Dölling, Anja Fislage, Lena Hach, Nikola Huppertz, Maja Ilisch, Suza Kolb, Jutta Wilke and Patrick Wirbeleit will be heard.
But all this abundance does not make the Erlangen Poets Festival so special, which this year bears the beautiful title “The Inventory of the Summer”. The special charm begins as soon as it gets dark and the authors are still strolling through the old town of Erlangen. Seldom in this republic, as the SZ said last year, “is there a higher number of writers per pub visitor” than on those four days at the end of August in a university town in central Franconia.
43rd Erlangen Poetry Festival“The Inventory of Summer”, August 24-27, 2023