Literary Center Giessen
| Literary Center Giessen (LZG) |
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| founding | 2009 |
| Seat | to water |
| purpose | Maintaining and promoting the literary tradition and culture of the university town of Giessen and its region |
| Chair | Sascha Feuchert |
| Managing directors | Janine Clemens |
| Members | approx. 260 |
| Website | www.lz-giessen.de |
The Literary Center Gießen eV (LZG) is a non-profit association for the maintenance and promotion of the literary tradition and culture of the university town of Gießen and its region. It was founded in November 2009 under the chairmanship of Sascha Feuchert and is based in the KiZ - Kultur im Zentrum building (congress center). The association currently has around 260 members. The managing director is Janine Clemens, who took over this position from Anna-Lena Heid (now Kiepenheuer & Witsch Verlag ) in March 2020 .
In 2016 the Literary Center Gießen and Sascha Feuchert were awarded the Hessian Literature Lion.
Goals and priorities
The aim of the LZG is to promote the literary life of the city and the district of Giessen through readings, exhibitions, festivals, plays, guided tours and lectures and to provide it with further impulses. The aim here is to network the existing instances of literature mediation (schools, bookshops, universities, city theaters, libraries) through joint programs and new event formats and to support them in their literary endeavors. The growing together of the city of Giessen and the Justus Liebig University in the field of literature is an important goal of the association. Another central concern is low-threshold access to literary culture, which is supported above all by the numerous collaborations and the networking of municipal and university institutions.
As a literary mediation institution, the LZG has set itself four priorities: contemporary literature, literary history, children's and youth literature as well as reading and literature promotion.
program
The program of the literary center is varied and is closely based on the above-mentioned priorities. In addition to classic readings on contemporary German and international literature, the LZG is also constantly developing new reading formats. One example is the series of events, Club der Junge Dichter , at which young talents from the German literary scene present their texts.
Since its inception, the LZG has repeatedly invited nationally and internationally known authors, including Lukas Bärfuss , Can Dündar , Navid Kermani , Emine Sevgi Özdamar , Herta Müller , Ilja Trojanow , Feridun Zaimoglu . In addition, the association also acts as a host for authors who are directly related to the Gießen region. Examples include the author Stephan Thome from Biedenkopf , crime novelist Jan Seghers and bestselling author Thomas Hettche , who attended school in Giessen. Due to the literary tradition of the city of Gießen and its surrounding area, guided tours, lectures and readings were offered, which were dedicated to authors related to Gießen, such as Alfred Bock , Georg Büchner or Peter Kurzck .
The program also includes regular literary events for children and young people in order to reach them outside of school and to inspire them creatively for the medium of books and literature. This also means that young people are introduced to reading and writing as early as possible. The Giessen Picture Book Days, which were awarded the Hessian Reading Promotion Prize in 2011 and, as co-organizer, the LZG reaches around 2,000 young listeners and readers every year, should be mentioned as a successful project . With the Weltentdecker project . Read with enthusiasm - right from the start! In 2017 and 2018, the Literary Center set itself the goal of expanding the use of literature in primary schools and kindergartens in Giessen and sustainably promoting reading enthusiasm among young readers. The program was supported by the Working Group on Literary Societies and Memorials (ALG) and the Hessian Ministry for Science and Art .
Training offers
The cooperation with the Justus Liebig University is also reflected in the training offers at the Literary Center Gießen. 60 students in Faculty 05 (Language-Literature-Culture) were able to complete a three-month, study-related internship and gain experience in the areas of press and public relations, event and content management as well as program design and cooperation.
Since 2013, the LZG has also offered the opportunity to complete a traineeship that is recognized in the literature business and is part of the course and is financed by Faculty 05. This practical offer, which was expanded to include a second internship position in 2018, not only aims to promote and deepen the skills mentioned, but also aims to give graduates the opportunity to orientate themselves during their studies and make a targeted contribution to the world of work enable.