Hong Kong International Literary Festival

For a second time, Goethe-Institut Hongkong collaborate with the Hong Kong International Literary Festival in presenting one German writer and one German comics artist in this year's Festival.

Founded in 2001, the Hong Kong International Literary Festival (HKILF) is an annual event held over ten days in autumn, and features established and emerging writers from Hong Kong and around the world. Last year, German comics artist Aisha Franz was invited to show the festival. And this year, we are happy to have Ms Theresia Enzensberger and Mr Arne Jysch with us. They will take part in literary discussions and workship with book lovers in Hong Kong.

©judith Schalansky

Theresia Enzensberger:
Theresia Enzensberger was born in Munich in 1986 and lives in Berlin. She studied film and film science at Bard College in New York and works as a freelance journalist for FAZ, FAS, ZEIT Online, Krautreporter and Monopol. In 2014 she founded the award-winning BLOCK magazine. Her debut novel Blaupause was published in 2017.

Schedule:
02.11.2019 │ 15:00-16:00 │JC Studio Theatre, The Fringe Club
Women’s Struggles in Bauhaus
In this session, German writer Theresia Enzensberger will be talking to Dr. Anna Katharina Grasskamp about her book Blueprint. This is a story about a girl studying art at the Bauhaus architecture school as she attempts to make her way within the tumultuous art world of the Weimar Republic. Praised for its distinctive, sober and feminist tone, Enzensberger’s debut novel deals with the struggles of a woman finding her way in a male-dominated art world.

03.11.2019 │ 16:30-17:30 │Library, Goethe-Institut Hongkong
What is Female?
Theresia Enzensberger’s novel Blueprint is set in the Weimar Republic during a fleeting period of liberation and expression. It tells the story of a young woman struggling to reconcile ideas of love and feminism amidst the intrigue of the Bauhaus architecture school. Shelley Wood’s The Quintland Sisters is told from the perspective of a young midwife and relates the heartbreaking true story of the world’s first surviving quintuplets, who were taken away from their parents by the government after birth. Both Enzensberger and Wood challenge our expectations and conceptions of women. In collaboration with the Goethe Institut, join these two writers for an insightful conversation on modern feminism and its redefinition. This session will be moderated by Elizabeth LaCouture.

© Claudius Pflug

Arne Jysch:
Arne Jysch, born in 1973, studied communication design and animation in Hamburg and Potsdam. Today he lives in Berlin and works as a storyboard artist, comic artist and lecturer for storyboard at the Film University Babelsberg. With "Der Beste" he has produced an award-winning short film and participated in the "Filmmasters Program" in Hollywood. "Wave and Smile" was his first comic. His graphic novel "Der nasse Fisch" – English title: “Babylon Berlin” - based on the crime novel by Volker Kutscher became a bestseller.

Schedule:
10.11.2019 │ 16:30 - 18:00 │ Lower Theatre, The Fringe Club
Graphic Novel Writing Workshop
Year by year, graphic novels have gradually found their way into the modern literary canon, gaining recognition as a format with potential for great complexity. Graphic novel adaptations frequently add something valuable—be it artistic detail or physical cue—to their source materials. The result visually engages the reader and allows them to fly through the pages of a riveting tale. Join Arne Jysch, artist of the graphic novel adaptation of Volker Kutscher’s bestselling Babylon Berlin, for a lesson on constructing effective graphic novels. As part of the Festival’s art exhibition, Jysch’s artwork will be exhibited in the Fringe Gallery from November 4th to 10th.