Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Welcoming Address: Lavinia Frey (Festival Director ilb), Matthias Pees (Director of Berliner Festspiele)
Greetings: Joe Chialo (Berlin’s State Minister for Culture and Social Cohesion and Patron of the Festival)
Introduction into the Program: 2024 Curator in Residence Helon Habila
Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse opens the 24th ilb with her speech »Strange New World«.
2024 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The world has not become a more peaceful place since then. In her fiction and non-fiction, Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, who fled from Rwanda to France in 1994, has powerfully written about the enduring impact of personal and collective traumas. In her opening speech of the 24th ilb she explores the »Strange New World« we find ourselves in right now and asks how past, present, and future are connected and if literature can help us understand the strange delta on whose shores we stand.
Musical performance by Ganna Gryniva – vocals, Aly Keïta – balafon, Laura Robles – cajón, Florian Rynkowski – bass/string instruments, Clemens Rynkowski – theremin/keyboard instruments/musical direction.
The event is held in German and English with simultaneous translation by Tuesday (Tul’si) Bhambry.
Welcoming Address: Lavinia Frey (Festival Director ilb), Matthias Pees (Director of Berliner Festspiele)
Greetings: Joe Chialo (Berlin’s State Minister for Culture and Social Cohesion and Patron of the Festival)
Introduction into the Program: 2024 Curator in Residence Helon Habila
Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse opens the 24th ilb with her speech »Strange New World«.
2024 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The world has not become a more peaceful place since then. In her fiction and non-fiction, Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, who fled from Rwanda to France in 1994, has powerfully written about the enduring impact of personal and collective traumas. In her opening speech of the 24th ilb she explores the »Strange New World« we find ourselves in right now and asks how past, present, and future are connected and if literature can help us understand the strange delta on whose shores we stand.
Musical performance by Ganna Gryniva – vocals, Aly Keïta – balafon, Laura Robles – cajón, Florian Rynkowski – bass/string instruments, Clemens Rynkowski – theremin/keyboard instruments/musical direction.
The event is held in German and English with simultaneous translation by Tuesday (Tul’si) Bhambry.
![Helga Schubert: Vom Aufstehen – Ein Leben in Geschichten [dt.]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HvG0lGCQUrc/mqdefault.jpg "Helga Schubert: Vom Aufstehen – Ein Leben in Geschichten [dt.]
Helga Schubert erschreibt sich in den knapp dreißig kunstvollen Prosastücken »Vom Aufstehen« eine »ästhetisch suggestive Autobiographie« [FAZ] und lässt in Momentaufnahmen, Meditationen, Bekenntnissen und Protokollen die familiären und historisch-politischen Verwerfungen eines deutsch¬-deutschen Lebens aufscheinen. Literatur als »Wärmestrom« [FAZ], als Versöhnung mit der Schicksalhaftigkeit eines steinigen Lebenswegs.
Moderation: Gabriele von Arnim")
![C Pam Zhang: How Much of These Hills Is Gold [engl.]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LFBM9mjJWkA/mqdefault.jpg "C Pam Zhang: How Much of These Hills Is Gold [engl.]
In her first novel, the daughter of Chinese immigrants recounts the flight of two orphans across the prairies. In the final stages of the American gold rush, they search for a home in a strange world and are filled with longing for an identity that transcends the boundaries of origin and gender. »C Pam Zhangs arresting, beautiful first novel is filled with myths of her own making as well as sorrows and joys« [New York Times].
Host: Toby Ashraf
Speaker: Hêvîn Tekin")
