The thirsty Pegasus

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The thirsty Pegasus is a German literary event. It has been taking place in the "Swallow's Nest" in Leipzig's Moritzbastei since 1976 . Because of its uninterrupted duration and regularity, it is considered to be the longest-running literary event in Europe.

On April 25, 1976, an article by Jochen Wisotzki appeared in the Leipzig University Newspaper , which described the first series of events at Moritzbastei, the literary club Der Durstige Pegasus , and called for participation. The Moritzbastei is an old underground fortress, which at that time was exposed mainly by volunteer work by students and made usable for various events. The goal of Thirsty Pegasus was then to present the latest literature, established authors and up-and-coming authors over fat slices, pickles and beer. It shouldn't be about offering something mature, but rather provoking - approval or contradiction, but definitely opinions. The students' own texts were read for this purpose, but well-known authors such as Volker Braun or Werner Heiduczek also gave presentations . Most of the club's members were cultural studies and journalism students.

Shortly after the Lesebühne was founded, when Wolf Biermann was expatriated from the GDR in November 1976, the audience of Thirsty Pegasus expressed displeasure. Wolfgang Feyerabend , at that time still a student, put it at the time: "Stay in the country and defend yourself honestly", whereby he emphasized that he had slightly modified the well-known saying for the current occasion. The management of the reading stage, at that time controlled by the Free German Youth , suppressed the student protests. At that time the future German Chancellor Angela Merkel worked as a waitress in the club.

By 1982, 100 authors had been presented in 50 events on the “reading stage for writing students and young workers”. Over the years, in addition to authors, other actors in the literary business such as publishers, authors' associations and representatives of other reading stages have been invited to the events.

Since 1987 Lutz Hesse, head of Moritzbastei's theater / literature / art division, has been responsible for the programmatic orientation of the reading series.

The Pegasus had seen various moderators since its inception. Volly Tanner moderated the event from 1999 to 2010, and since 2010 Elia van Scirouvsky and Norbert Marohn have taken over the microphone.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Torsten Reitler: Thirsty man in his late thirties with wings. . In: Bastei blog. from July 6, 2015, accessed on February 23, 2019
  2. ↑ Torsten Reitler, Bastei blog. dated April 18, 2009, accessed February 24, 2019
  3. ↑ Torsten Reitler: Legendary Clubs: Drug mania on the permanent construction site. In: Spiegel Online of March 27, 2009, accessed on February 23, 2019
  4. ↑ Ulrike Schuster: Moritzbastei Leipzig: the systematic chaos of a building history 1974–1979. Berlin, NoRa, 2003, p. 174. ISBN 978-3936735338
  5. ^ Ulrich Mählert , Gerd-Rüdiger Stephan: Blue shirts - Red flags: The history of the free German youth . Springer-Verlag, 1996, p. 213, ISBN 978-3810017147
  6. ↑ Matthew Qvortrup: Angela Merkel: Europe's Most Influential Leader. Gerald Duckworth & Co, 2017, ISBN 9780715650806
  7. ^ Günter Schuchardt: mb - The youth and student center "Moritzbastei". In: Leipziger Blätter , Volume 1, EA Seemann , 1982, p. 80
  8. ↑ Torsten Reitler: Let's celebrate! . In: Bastei blog. dated June 23, 2014, accessed February 24, 2019