Literature and Translation

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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.

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 German Language Column

How does one find one's way around the rules of the German language, where do new words come from, and what are the most important changes in the use of the language - for example, due to digitalisation and a higher sensitivity due to the gender issue? These and other exciting topics are the focus of our column about the German language.

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

Goethe Darbaar is an experience and exchange of literature, poetry, culture, and language: a series of six live events featuring readings, performances, and conversations by local and international writers, poets, and acts.

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. 

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

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