Kafka Read-a-Thon

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of writer Franz Kafka. In celebration of his life and work, join us for a live public reading of classic and lesser-known Kafka stories and texts, including Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, A Hunger Artist, and many shorter texts. Local writers, elected officials, and possibly even a human-sized cockroach will take turns reading aloud 10-minute segments of each Kafka work, running continuously from 11am to 4pm. Drop in at any time and stay for as long as you like!

Stay tuned for our full reader lineup, which will be announced in early November.

SCHEDULE

AUDITORIUM
10:45AM Doors Open
11:00AM Opening Remarks
11:05AM Metamorphosis 
1:00PM In the Penal Colony 
2:00PM A Hunger Artist 
2:20PM Shorter Stories and Fragments (including Before the Law, A Report to an Academy, The Vulture, and others)
4:00PM Reception

COMMUNITY ROOM
11:00AM - 4:45PM Choose-Your-Own-Metamorphosis Flash Fiction
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to wake up one day and discover that you've turned into a refrigerator or a giraffe overnight? The Traveling Typist, Chicago's typewriter poet extraordinaire, will be on-site all day, offering individualized flash fiction inspired by Kafka's Metamorphosis, in which the narrator wakes up as a giant insect. Just give the Traveling Typist an animal, object, or celebrity you'd like to turn into, and they'll type up a paragraph-long short story about it on the spot. 

This event is presented in collaboration with the Chicago Public Library, the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago, and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago.