Time to Listen

“The best, the oldest stories in the world have always begun the same way.”: thus begin Pierre Jarawan’s recollections of Beirut, a ‘city of coruscating contradictions’; recollections that are shot through and through not only with stories but also with silences. And questions ...

Sallamah feels an urge to go out on the sea. She wants to dive for pearls like her father before her. Being a girl, she is mocked, her wishes ignored. Instead, she is married off. When pearl-fishers perish, the blame falls on Sallamah.

Anke Kuhl once again recounts a children’s story that is not for the faint-hearted: Blacky, the black rabbit has to be separated from the other rabbits because it keeps biting them to the point of drawing blood. But Blacky gets a second chance ...

The bear and the weasel have a delicious meal in front of them - consisting of three mushrooms. But who’s to get two, and who’s to get one? They argue and argue, putting their friendship at risk, until suddenly ...

Things that used to be regarded as certainties are no longer seen that way today. These stories about profound changes and sudden new insights – but also about comforting continuities – have been specially gathered together for Germany’s guest appearance at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair in May 2022.

‘Finally’ is a word that can equate to a sigh of relief - an upsetting situation has finally come to an end. Or it can equally well herold a mighty conclusion, a furious finale. Look and listen to see how our storytellers deploy the word ‘finally’!

A collection of stories about embraces: as an expression of close encounters, but also as a symbol of reconciliation, of overcoming opposites. The stories are told by artists from all parts of the world.

How can we express the momentariness, the inconsistency, the vagueness or the monstrosity of an experience? Authors from all over the world try to do so in these clips: finding their own poetic way.

We invite you to step back, for a long moment, from the overwhelming presence of what’s going on in the world: with a good story – based on true events, freely invented or both at the same time. By storytellers from all over the world. 

At the Frankfurt Book Fair 2021, curator Thomas Böhm talked with four of the authors who contributed to “Time to listen”. Guests were: Michal Hvorecký, Zaia Alexander, Antje Rávik Strubel und Colm Tóibín.