Thursday 10 September 2009

international literature festival berlin

I have been uncharacteristically silent. That's because I'm immersed in the German Book Prize longlist, but the end is in sight. As long as the international literature festival berlin doesn't distract me too much, that is.

They've had a charming idea - Berliners can adopt an author and show them around the city. A friend has been allocated a British writer, and I'm intrigued at how it'll go.

Otherwise it's eleven days of writers, writers, writers all over the shop. The focus is on Arab literatures, often introduced by prominent translators like Stefan "swoon" Weidner and Harmut "charming" Fähndrich. You should be able to read an English version of this interview with the festival's head Ulrich Schreiber very soon indeed. He wants to set "a milestone for literary communication between Europe and the Arab world".

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