Literature and Translation

300 Years Kant

Kant’s work is considered to be the pinnacle of Enlightenment philosophy. The philosopher was born in Königsberg in 1724. His maxim that we should use our reason seems more relevant and pressing today than ever before. What lessons can we learn from Kant? Where did Kant fail in his endeavours? What are the abysses and darker sides of the Enlightenment? This is what our Kant special is all about.

Being Kafka

Why does Franz Kafka’s spell remain unbroken a hundred years after his death? Is it his exquisite letters, our affection for dramatic tales, or the sense that our contemporary world has never been more Kafkaesque? The centenary of Franz Kafka's death presents a chance to delve into innovative approaches to understanding the author and his captivating oeuvre.

200th Birth Anniversary
Max Mueller Bicentennial

Friedrich Max Mueller, philologist and scholar, would have turned 200 in December 2023. As namesake of the Goethe-Instituts in India, his bicentennial serves as an occasion not just to remember but to revisit his renown, while critically engaging with the complexity of his contributions. This dossier goes beyond tribute to delve into Max Mueller’s historical role, influence and relevance within contemporary India.

Literary translation
The German List

Seagull’s German List which is supported by the Goethe-Institut since 2009 now comprises more than 90 translations of formidable works of contemporary German literature by distinguished authors and laureates such as Max Frisch, Theodor W. Adorno, Thomas Bernhard, Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Ulrich Peltzer.

The Infinite Library

The Infinite Library is a travelling installation that uses VR and other media to reimagine the future of libraries as interactive spaces that engage visitors through multisensory forms of storytelling.

Boarding!
Graphic Travelogues

Join us on this special journey and immerse yourself in new worlds: Graphic Travelogues presents travel experiences by comic artists from different countries. From sketches to graphic novels, graphic diaries and travel drawings - discover with us the treasures we collect here.

Hermann Hesse: 100 years of Siddhartha
The Sound of Faraway Lands

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of "Siddhartha", the Goethe-Instituts in South Asia are exploring the ways South Asia and Germany are received by one another – in literature, music, film and everyday culture.

The German Language Column

Our column delves into navigating German language rules, tracing the origins of new words, and highlighting significant language usage shifts, offering insights into these engaging linguistic discussions.

Contemporary Drama In Translation

Contemporary German-language drama is characterized by enormous variety. This project is about translating some of them in six South Asian languages – Bangla, Hindi, Marathi, Sinhalese, Tamil, and Urdu.

Literature. Poetry. Culture
Goethe Darbaar

A celebration of literature, poetry and the arts — experience readings, performances and conversations with local and international writers, poets and artists at the event series "Goethe Darbaar".

Cherrypicker suggests
Read and listen

The "Cherrypicker" blog presents selected novels and non-fiction books, graphic novels and stories, audio books and music CDs from the wealth of new German-language publications. Every week a new recommendation, every week an opportunity to discover outstanding texts, images and voices.

Series
Future Libraries

Libraries lead us through a flood of analogue and digital information, can be a platform for exchange, space for encounters or social anchors in the city. With our series “Future Libraries” we shed light on challenges, trends and examples of success around the future of the library.

Poets Translating Poets

Poetry mirrors society, this project features some of the most renowned poets from South Asia who deal with identity, gender concerns, multiculturalism and diversity through their work. 

Leipzig Book Fair
Barbi Marković wins the fiction prize at the Leipzig Book Fair

Author Barbi Marković was awarded the Leipzig Book Fair prize for fiction. Other awards went to art historian Tom Holert and translator Ki-Hyang Lee.

German Book Prize 2023
Coming-of-age novel about a gamer

Awarding the German Book Prize to Tonio Schachinger is a very good decision. His novel “Echtzeitalter” is narratively mature, entertaining and full of esprit. A commentary.

Off to Frankfurt Book Fair
Writing in the first person

An exciting literary year is drawing to a close. Autofiction is on a high, while masculinity and father-son relationships have been explored, as has the ever-popular topic of East Germany. To crown it all, we can now look forward to some new literary discoveries, as Slovenia is guest of honour at Frankfurt Book Fair.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2022
German Book Prize 2022 goes to Kim de l'Horizon

How do you write about people who are neither male nor female? Kim de l’Horizon showed how in “Blutbuch” (Blood Book). At the award ceremony in Frankfurt, Kim shaved their head bald – and thanked their mother.

Book Fairs
Emotions Are Running High

The Leipzig Book Fair – after the Frankfurt fair the most important annual convention in the sector – was cancelled at short notice in 2022 because of the pandemic. The discussion that flared up as a result is only the beginning of a fundamental debate on the future of book fairs.
 

Jaipur Literature Festival
Reading for a better future

The 13th edition of Jaipur Literature Festival votes for borderless literature, preservation of planet and fighting global poverty.

Poetry
POETRY IS OMNIVOROUS

Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1929 – 2022) is regarded as one of the most important German-language poets of the 20th century. A portrait of him, as penned by his translator.

Radicalisation of Language
“Populist Slogans Linger Much Longer in People’s Minds”

In his debut novel, the writer Lukas Rietzschel describes the lack of perspective and the radicalisation of two brothers who grow up in East Germany. In the interview he talks about populism and the brutalisation of language.

A look into the Booktube universe
Literature on Youtube

Text is a thing of the past, moving images are the in-thing these days – the trend has also taken hold in the world of book bloggers. In Germany, too, they are increasingly using Youtube as a platform for their book tips and reviews.
 

The Future of Learning
“Digitalisation Makes Us Read More”

How does digitalisation influence our cognitive skills? Reading researcher Gerhard Lauer talks about learning in the digital age, creative reading, and why long books are all the rage.
 

Communication
Ferngespräch

Quite a number of words are still firmly established in German language use today – even though they came into existence at a time that barely has anything to do with our diverse present. In this series, Elisabeth Wellershaus tries to fathom them out and reinterpret them from a decolonial perspective. This time she takes a look at the term “Ferngespräch”.
 

Bookworld
Families in a new guise

The hunger for reality remains intense in German-language literature.

by Miriam Zeh

Arts

Media and Digital Culture

Society

What we Offer