Read and discuss works by contemporary German authors in this series hosted by the Goethe-Institut. All books can be read in recent English translation or in the German original; our discussion will be in English. Led in March by guest facilitator, DC-based poet and Zeitgeist Literature Festival curator
Suzanne Zweizig, this book club focuses on contemporary fiction and will explore experiences and thoughts about the text.
Tigermilch / Tiger Milk (2013 / 2014) by Stefanie de Velasco
Nini and Jameelah are 14, best friends forever. This summer they're going to grow up, together, on their terms. But things don't always turn out the way you plan. As the summer holidays stretch out before them, Berlin becomes their playground. At night they descend on the red light district, impersonating the prostitutes there in order to practice for their first time, giggling to each other, tipsy on Tiger Milk. But then, one night, Nini and Jameelah witness a crime that threatens to ruin everything. Tender, funny, shocking and tragic,
Tiger Milk captures what it is to be young.
A reading of
Tiger Milk, along with an appearance by the author, will take place on April 1 at 6:30 pm, at a to-be-announced location. This will be a part of our annual Zeitgeist Literature Festival.
Stefanie de Velasco, born 1978 in Oberhausen, studied European Ethnology and Political Science in Bonn, Berlin, and Warsaw. In 2011 she received the Literaturpreis Prenzlauer Berg for her debut novel. She received a fellowship at the writers' workshop of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation in 2012 and a fellowship at the Schöppingen Artists' Village in 2013. At the moment, she is a fellow at the Munich Screenplay Workshop. She lives and works in Berlin.
Guest facilitator
Suzanne Zweizig is the translation editor for poetry journal
Poet Lore. Her poetry has appeared in such publications as
Beloit Poetry Journal,
Subtropics,
Verse Daily, and
Poet Lore,
Waccamaw Review. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Washington D.C. Arts Commission, and was a semi-finalist for The Nation/Discovery prize in 2003. She holds an M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Florida, where she studied with German translator Michael Hoffmann, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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