Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Konzipiert als Fortschreibung seiner zeithistorischen Bestandsaufnahme »In Europa« [2005], erkundet Geert Mak in seinem aktuellen Buch »Große Erwartungen« so materialreich wie pointenstark das vielfältige Leben auf einem zum Zerreißen gespannten Kontinent. Ist aus dem europäischen Traum ein Alptraum geworden? »Eine sagenhafte Mixtur aus Essay, Reportage und Geschichtsschreibung« [Der Spiegel].
Moderation: Barbara Wahlster
Konzipiert als Fortschreibung seiner zeithistorischen Bestandsaufnahme »In Europa« [2005], erkundet Geert Mak in seinem aktuellen Buch »Große Erwartungen« so materialreich wie pointenstark das vielfältige Leben auf einem zum Zerreißen gespannten Kontinent. Ist aus dem europäischen Traum ein Alptraum geworden? »Eine sagenhafte Mixtur aus Essay, Reportage und Geschichtsschreibung« [Der Spiegel].
Moderation: Barbara Wahlster
![Mieko Kawakami: Heaven
A nameless boy with an eye defect is systematically bullied and mistreated by his classmates at school. His only ray of hope is the beginning of a friendship with Kojima, who secretly writes him letters and is also bullied. Together they try to find meaning and comfort. This painful and at the same time philosophical novel unsparingly analyzes the multi-layered structural character and the consequences of bullying and physical violence for the victims.
Guest: Mieko Kawakami [online]
Presenter: Marie-Christine Knop
Speaker: Martin Geisler
Interpreter: Fujiko Sekikawa
Supporting Act: Anna Pilar – »Stimmbruch«
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Ein namenloser Junge mit einer Augenfehlstellung wird in der Schule systematisch von seinen Mitschüler:innen gemobbt und misshandelt. Sein einziger Hoffnungsschimmer ist die beginnende Freundschaft mit Kojima, die ihm heimlich Briefe schreibt und ebenfalls gemobbt wird. Gemeinsam versuchen sie, Sinn und Trost zu finden. Schonungslos analysiert der schmerzhafte und gleichzeitig philosophische Roman den vielschichtigen Strukturcharakter und die Folgen von Mobbing und physischer Gewalt für die Opfer.
Gast: Mieko Kawakami [online]
Moderation: Marie-Christine Knop
Sprecher: Martin Geisler
Dolmetscherin: Fujiko Sekikawa
Vorprogramm: Anna Pilar – »Stimmbruch«
Purchase the book via: https://www.kulturkaufhaus.de/de/detail/ISBN-9783832166465/Kawakami-Mieko/Heaven?wt_mc=koop.ma_product.yt.ilb2022.
STAY TUNED
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Newsletter: https://civicrm.literaturfestival.com/newsletteranmeldung Mieko Kawakami: Heaven](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4izLd0IR6lc/mqdefault.jpg)



![Aleksandar Hemon: My Parents [engl.]
Aleksandar Hemons memoir »My Parents« poetically recounts his family’s relocation to Canada during the Bosnian War, his mother’s attempts to keep the family together, his father’s passion for beekeeping, and the losses they and their countrymen have suffered. »Hemon probes the way nationalism can structure ways of thinking and even lives« [New York Times].
Host: Bernhard Robben
Speaker: Frank Arnold Aleksandar Hemon: My Parents [engl.]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/61lvJnFIVdQ/mqdefault.jpg)

![Olga Ravn: De Ansatte | The Employees [engl.]
With her science fiction satire about corporate language, nominated for the 2021 International Booker Prize, the Danish author takes aim at the workplace in late capitalist society and explores the question of what it means to be human. »She muses on transhumanism, illuminates the dreamlike logic of inner lives, contrasts artistic and religious impulses with the anti-¬human reductionism of corporate jargon« [The Guardian].
Host: Toby Ashraf
Speaker: Katja Hutko Olga Ravn: De Ansatte | The Employees [engl.]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/68ccoqcpUEg/mqdefault.jpg)



![ARUNDHATI ROY: Mother Mary comes to me
Deutsche Übersetzung: https://youtube.com/live/Ve48LAdr6M4
The festival spirit extends into the fall, as the award-winning Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy ventures into new literary territory with her first memoir. In »Mother Mary Calls to Me«, Roy not only reflects on her eventful life, but also on the political upheavals of her homeland, her special relationship with her mother.
Roy achieved worldwide fame with her debut novel »The God of Small Things«, for which she was awarded the Booker Prize, among other accolades. She has since used her international fame for her political and humanitarian commitment. A fierce critic of the Indian government, she was threatened with imprisonment.
In her impressive opening speech at the ilb in 2009, she warned against the erosion of democratic systems through neoliberal market logic and political oppression. Her move to memoir – a genre that illuminates the personal in the context of social developments – seems only logical. »One can only marvel at her tenacity to rebel and the poetic power with which she does so. Both together give her a unique greatness.« [SPIEGEL]
With Arundhati Roy
Moderated by Priya Basil
Simultaneous translation by Milena Adam and Tuesday Bhambry
The event will be held in English with readings in German.
An event of the international literature festival berlin in coproduction with the Deutsches Theater Berlin.
The anniversary program is made possible by the LOTTO Foundation Berlin.
“Mother Mary Comes to Me” was translated into German by Anette Grube. ARUNDHATI ROY: Mother Mary comes to me](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7asV8M1kjTI/mqdefault.jpg)