Library

This December marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Austrian writer Rainer Maria Rilke, opening a year dedicated to celebrating his life and literary legacy. Known for his profound reflections on death, love, and the complexities of human existence, Rilke shaped modern poetry in lasting ways. Throughout the Rilke Year, our library highlights his influential works and invites visitors to delve deeper into his poetry and prose, discovering how his unique voice continues to resonate across generations and inspire readers around the world.

In November, we celebrated Ursula Krechel receiving the prestigious Georg Büchner Prize. Her work, which engages deeply with themes of exile, persecution, and feminism, was the focus of our library spotlight. Visitors were encouraged to explore further novels and poetry by one of Germany’s most important contemporary literary voices, discovering Krechel’s profound engagement with history, memory, and social issues through her compelling storytelling.

In September, we marked the opening of the V&A East’s new David Bowie Centre by highlighting two graphic novels by Reinhard Kleist: STARMAN: Bowie’s Stardust Years and LOW: David Bowie’s Berlin Years. Richly illustrated in both German and English, the works captured key phases of Bowie’s life in Berlin and beyond. They provided Bowie fans and language learners alike with an engaging way to explore the music legend’s career and creativity through the dynamic medium of the graphic novel.

In August, we celebrated Wim Wenders’ 80th birthday, honouring one of Germany’s most influential and internationally acclaimed filmmakers. Our library highlighted a range of written works and DVDs by and about Wenders, providing visitors with insight into his creative mind and artistic vision. Through these resources, readers could explore the poetic lens behind his films and gain a deeper understanding of the cinematic innovation and storytelling that have defined Wenders’ remarkable career.

In June, we celebrated the 150th anniversary of Thomas Mann’s birth by revisiting his works, particularly The Magic Mountain (Der Zauberberg). Set in a Swiss sanatorium before the First World War, the novel explored clashes of ideology, the passage of time, and the strange allure of the mountains through an array of memorable characters. Our library offered visitors the chance to rediscover Mann’s masterpiece and reflect on the themes that have made it one of the most significant works of 20th-century German literature.

In May, we highlighted two titles reflecting on our changing planet. Gianna Molinari’s Behind the Hedge, the World imagined a future Swiss village isolated behind a hedge, where children mysteriously stopped growing, while a mother observed climate change in the Arctic. Complementing this, Jens Beckert’s Sold Future examined why we have struggled to respond effectively to the climate crisis. Both works encouraged readers to consider our relationship with nature and the societal challenges posed by environmental change.

In April, we featured Wolf Haas’ Loose Connection (Wackelkontakt), nominated for the 2025 Leipzig Book Fair Prize. The story followed Franz Escher, a funeral orator waiting for an electrician to fix a loose socket, while reading about Elio Russo, a key witness in a Mafia trial. Russo, in turn, spent his nights reading about Escher. By bending conventional storytelling rules, Haas created the unique sensation of peeking at the book of the person sitting next to you on the Tube, offering a playful and inventive reading experience.

In March, we highlighted the analogue perspective of Tate Modern’s Electric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internet, which explored a pre-digital era when artists boldly experimented with machines. Central to the exhibition was the German artist collective ZERO and its visionary founder, Otto Piene. Our library collection featured a carefully curated selection of monographs on ZERO and key figures. Visitors were invited to continue the journey beyond the exhibition and explore the ideas that shaped the art and technology we engage with today.

In Februar, we highlighted Deniz Utlu’s Father’s Sea, a novel resonating with Fatma Aydemir’s Djinns, exploring a German-Turkish family’s memories. Told from Yunus’ perspective, the story retraced his father Zeki’s life. By piecing together fragments of Zeki’s past, Yunus’ search for belonging and identity unfolded. As the title suggested, each story acted like a wave, connecting to the next and forming the vast ocean of Zeki’s experiences. Our library offered a space to reflect on family, memory, and the ties between past and present.