Around the globe
The libraries of the Goethe-Institut

Where exactly does genius reside? In Franzobel’s latest novel, an American pathologist asks that question – and steals the brain of the recently deceased Albert Einstein to find out.

The young graphic designer Leander Zerwer has created a somewhat different Berlin architectural guide for the years between 1946 and 2022.

In his new novel, Christoph Peters dares to play games – with literature, current political events, his own creative process and readers.

Interrail pass, backpack, laptop, notepad: Alex Rühle travelled light on his tour of Europe. But he asked some weighty questions: What is the European Union today? Do its early values still apply? Rühle collected all sorts of answers while crossing its borders – and tens of thousands of kilometres.

Markus Heitz impressively demonstrates what fantasy can do - create a visually-stunning world that feels both familiar and strange and a story with surprising yet logical twists that is never dull.

My job is hell! – that's probably what everyone has thought at one time or another. In a comic book by Patrick Wirbeleit, a pubescent actually finds work in the realm of the devil.

More than just a place for bookworms – will the library of the future have vegetable patches on the roof and a repair café in the basement? Tim Schumann works at the Heinrich Böll Library in Berlin’s Pankow district and is co-founder of the “Green Libraries Network”. Here he explains why public libraries have to redefine their role.

Guaranteeing free access to knowledge and information is the primary goal of public and research libraries in Germany. How is the German library system structured, and what challenges do they face within the sector?

Public and accessible meeting space becomes increasingly rare and high quality education remains out-of-reach for many people. Nico Koenig and Grif Peterson from “Peer 2 Peer University”  talk about the potential of libraries as a shared space for community building and lifelong learning.