A ship comes loaded – and it will manage to defy even “stormy times”. If you recently listened to the cultural advisor Anton Biebl, who got in the mood for the Munich Literature Festival at a press conference, then metaphorically you felt like you were on the high seas. Strictly speaking, Biebl spoke of three “flagships” – the literary house, the regional association of the Börsenverein and the cultural department – flanked by many “small and large boats”. Together they should enable adventurous readers to sail through world literature from November 17th to December 5th. And everyone on deck is hopeful that they will not be drowned on this journey into the unknown.
Because they have prepared themselves for pandemic wave movements of all kinds: At the 62nd Munich Book Show, which will take place in the Gasteig for the last time – if Biebl does not recommend it again for “temporary use” next year, as he suggested – the exhibition area will be 3-G rule. At the events in the Gasteig and in the Literaturhaus, however, the stricter 2G must be met – vaccinated or recovered. Since all readings can also be accessed as streams and the book show can alternatively be accessed with a click of the mouse, you feel able to cope with even unfavorable winds – the ships can cast off.
The immediate goal is to encourage as many people as possible to take reading trips in their heads. This is ensured by more than 160 publishers, according to the new chairman of the Bavarian Stock Exchange Association, Klaus Füreder, who are exhibiting around 15,000 books in the Gasteig. Since Füreder is not only a bookseller, but also the chairman of an association for the promotion of reading, the social participation of as many people as possible is of particular concern to him – and he is proud of the low-threshold offer: “If the Munich Book Show didn’t already exist, you’d have to they invent. “
In addition to a rich children’s and youth program, as always, there will be more than 30 events for adults at the book show. Alois Prinz will present his new non-fiction book on Simone de Beauvoir (November 18), Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon as co-author of Paul McCartney’s autobiography of the famous BeatlesMusician (21.11.), While Nicola Bardola is with Queen-Star Freddie Mercury in Munich (December 2nd) and journalist Stefan Aust with himself (November 25th). Franz Kafka’s drawings should allow a new look at his work (November 26th), Svenja Flaßpöhler discusses modern sensibilities (December 4th). A bestselling author such as Elke Heidenreich, who reads on November 19th, is committed to the goal of “strengthening the subject through reading”, as Börsenverein managing director Klaus Beckschulte puts it. not only reading tips on books by women, but also explains their “love for stories told. And love does something to you, always”.
Reads from her book “Sensibel” at the Munich Book Show: the philosopher Svenja Flaßpöhler.
(Photo: Johanna Rübel)
The “power of storytelling” also conjures up Tanja Graf, the head of the literary house and the literary festival as a whole. The storytelling is “the only place” where “all possibilities are open to you”, regardless of your origin or your gender. The literary festival opening evening on November 17 will already be about the power of storytelling and the finding of identity through language, when the publicist Marina Weisband can be seen alongside the writer Abbas Khider and the Oekom publisher Jacob Radloff. Otherwise, Graf has noticeably invited “many great women” to her, as usual, more literary-oriented festival program in the Literaturhaus. In addition to this year’s book award winner Antje Rávik Strubel (December 1), Irene Dische (November 19), Sasha Marianna Salzmann and Julia Franck (November 22) have accepted. For actor Edgar Selge, they switch to the Kammerspiele (November 23), while Daniel Schreiber (November 18), Timur Vermes (November 21) and photographer Herlinde Koelbl (November 30) are expected in the Literaturhaus with their new volume about Angela Merkel . And at a “Market of Independent Publishers” on November 27th and 28th, independent publishers awarded by the Free State will be exhibiting their new books.
If you want to broaden your view internationally and think about the sense and nonsense of borders of all kinds, you are right with the French-based writer Shumonha Sinha (November 24) or the young Albanian-Finnish author Pajtim Statovci (November 19). Overcoming boundaries, whether theoretical or practical, also played a major role for Hannah Arendt. The knowledge about the thinker, to which the literary house is currently dedicating an exhibition worth seeing, is to be deepened in a small symposium: On a Saturday afternoon, Arendt expert Thomas Meyer will discuss “The Public Venture” with guests (November 20).
This year Antje Rávik Strubel won the German Book Prize for her novel “Blaue Frau” – she will present it on December 1st at the Munich Literature Festival.
(Photo: Philipp von der Heydt)
As far as the risk of major public literary events is concerned, one thing to report is that the city of Munich is like a rock behind this festival. “Munich needs a literary festival!” Says cultural advisor Biebl. Despite general urban savings, the grant, around 140,000 euros, will therefore not be reduced. The immediate goal of a literature festival in this second pandemic autumn is thus achievable. The “long-term goal”, however, according to Biebl, is “still in the fog”. He emphasizes how right it was to let the three festival flagships sail together since 2010. But it also suggests that it might be time to “redefine the long-term course together” and “break new ground” with changed concepts. The expedition, it is called, did not end in December. And where the ships will ultimately land remains uncertain.
Literature Festival Munich: Wed., November 17th, until December 5th; Munich Book Show in Gasteig: from Nov. 18 daily 8 a.m.-11 p.m., free admission, muenchner-buecherschau.de; Literaturhaus festival program: literaturhaus-muenchen.de