Literature Now!

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Literature Now! is the largest festival for contemporary literature in Dresden . It was founded in 2007 by publisher Leif Greinus and writer Michael Bittner with the aim of promoting literary life in Dresden and overcoming the barriers between high literary culture and popular literary culture. [outdated]

history

The festival took place from November 20th to 25th 2007 for the first time and at different locations ( Scheune Dresden , Schauburg , Lingnerschloss , Kleines Haus des Staatsschauspiel ). Over 1700 people attended the 13 events, in which more than 30 authors and other artists were involved, including the Titanic Boygroup , Clemens Meyer and Franz Dobler .

In the following years, the festival was also increasingly perceived nationwide. Renowned writers such as Florian Illies and Judith Schalansky presented their books in Dresden. At the same time, the festival also offers a stage for young, aspiring authors such as Theresia Enzensberger . In addition, the number of viewers increased steadily to the previous high point of the 9th edition in 2017. Under the motto "Art!" And in cooperation with the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden , more than 30 authors and other artists devoted themselves to a total of 15 events the interplay of literature and fine arts and the cross-border commuters between these two fields and thus attracted around 4,000 guests. As part of this festival edition, the opening of the exhibition "Pictures of Your Great Love - The Painter Wolfgang Herrndorf " took place in the Japanese Palais , curated by Ulrike Pennewitz and an example of a double talent in text and image that is very rare. The former Titanic editor-in-chief Oliver Maria Schmitt gave a pointed and very personal eulogy for the artist Wolfgang Herrndorf, author of “ Tschick ” or “ Sand ” and longstanding illustrator of the satirical magazine Titanic.

Since 2013, the festival editions have had a motto to which most of the individual events can be assigned (2013: Life in Abundance ; 2014: Anger ; 2015: New Worlds ; 2016: We Must Talk ; 2017: Art!; 2018: Victory over the Sun ) . Fresh off the press moderator Denis Scheck took over the moderation for 2018 .

After a cooperation with the Kunstsammlungen Dresden (2017) and two cooperations with the German Hygiene Museum Dresden (2016, parallel to the special exhibition "Language. World of Words, Signs, Gestures" and 2018; parallel to the special exhibition "Shine on me. We and die Sonne ") the festival will find a new home in 2019: the Zentralwerk, an extensive building complex in Dresden-Pieschen that is being renovated and operated by the Zentralwerk Kultur- und Wohngenossenschaft Dresden eG, a heterogeneous group of cultural workers. Some resident artists open their offices, workspaces and studios for the festival's literary events.

Conception

The festival team tries to mix the genres as much as possible. In addition to readings from novels, short stories, spoken word texts or poems, there are also discussions about political essays, non-fiction books or journalistic considerations. Also satirical or ostensibly entertainment formats regularly have their place in the festival calendar. Since the literature now! claims to be a contemporary festival, in most cases the invited artists have recently published a work or otherwise made a name for themselves. Some author invitations go back to the respective spring program of the publishers, others deal with very current topics. Some books and writers are affairs of the heart of the organizers. Every now and then, at the festival, authors read texts from colleagues who have already died or, in exceptional cases, on behalf of authors who were unable to come, as was the case in 2018: A text collection specially prepared for Dresden by Alexander Kluge was created by the actress Corinna Harfouch and the writer Marcel Beyer alternately presented and supplemented with recorded image and sound collages by Kluge. Another popular mixed format is the “Poetry Slam - Dead or Alive”, in which living and dead poets, embodied by actors, compete on stage in a literary competition.

organization

The festival was run by livelyrix e. V. organized with many different partners. The programming and organization was in the hands of Michael Bittner (author), Leif Greinus (Voland & Quist publishing house), Ludwig Henne (cultural manager), Helge Pfannenschmidt (edition AZUR publishing house) and Volker Sielaff (author).

In 2019 the association LiteraturNow! e. V. the organization. The association consists of the previous organizers and other people from the literary, museum, theater and club landscape of Dresden.

financing

The festival is financed by the income from ticket sales. In addition, it is supported by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the Dresden Cultural Foundation of the Dresdner Bank and the State Capital Dresden. Since 2019 it has received institutional funding from the Dresden Cultural Office and, if necessary, funding from private foundations and media partners.

2019

The festival has been organized once a year since 2019 by Literatur Jetzt! e. V. (until 2018 by Livelyrix e.V.), in cooperation with various Dresden partners. The 11th edition will take place from September 25 to 29, 2019 in the Zentralwerk Dresden and other locations, with authors such as Karen Köhler , Feridun Zaimoglu , Isabelle Lehn, Ahne or David Schalko and artists such as the comic artist Nicolas Mahler and Annamateur .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Young authors welcome", in: Sächsische Zeitung of November 19, 2007, page 23
  2. ↑ “A kinship of the first degree.” Dresden Literature Festival is also dedicated to painting and shows a Herrndorf exhibition, in: Welt Kompakt No. 207 from October 25, 2017, page 9
  3. ^ "The first skyscraper on the Elbe", in: Dresdner Latest News of November 10, 2017, p. 9
  4. ↑ "We can defend ambiguity with literature", in: Döbelner Allgemeine Zeitung of November 6, 2018, p. 10
  5. ^ "Dance on the rubble of ideals", in: Dresdner Latest News from November 7, 2017, p. 8
  6. ↑ Life in Abundance
  7. ↑ anger
  8. ↑ New Worlds
  9. ↑ We have to talk (in cooperation with the Hygiene Museum Dresden)
  10. ↑ Art!
  11. ↑ Victory over the sun (in cooperation with the German Hygiene Museum Dresden)
  12. ^ A Dresden affair and other storms of the soul, in: Sächsische Zeitung - Dresden, November 6, 2018, p. 8
  13. ↑ City of Dresden: Additional funds for municipal cultural funding. In: City of Dresden. Town Hall, March 27, 2019, accessed on April 12, 2019 (eng).