Poetry Festival

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The (first German ) poetry festival was launched in Hamburg in 1977 on the initiative of Natias Neutert . Although it was expressly intended to be continued and with a large audience, it was only held this one time for financial reasons.

history

In March 1977, Natias Neutert offered the management of the Winterhuder Fährhaus, following a successful performance of their own, to establish a national poetry festival in the popular excursion restaurant in the port city with its spacious beer garden, almost reminiscent of Munich . His call for this over. Radio made the project known far beyond the city-state's borders so quickly that many of the famous writers soon gave it their personal approval. With the locally living authors Jan Hans, Uwe Herms, Ralf Thenior and Uwe Wandrey , four co-organizers joined the project, through whom further valuable cultural and political contacts flowed into the project. The company was supported by the cultural authority with 15,000 DM.

Festival event

For a full weekend, from June 24th, 25th up to and including June 26th, poetry readings were held from 9pm to open end . Admission: DM 5, -, season ticket: DM 10. On Sunday afternoon there was an open panel discussion between authors, editors, critics and publishers on the subject of poetry before the actual reading marathon - back to the gazebo? which was inspired by its critical questioning by a relevant essay by Peter Rühmkorf .

Festival participants

The majority of the names of the invited poets reads, as the festival poster shows, like a who's who of German-language literature at the time:

reception

Been as a participant in the middle, writes Helmut Heißenbüttel in time :

  • "Around thirty poets of different production methods, of different ages, but mostly the generation of today's thirty to thirty-five-year-olds, three large readings on three consecutive evenings, ten individual readings each evening, each about 15 minutes, sometimes more, sometimes less; readings by two authors each with discussion in the Fährhaus pub; two so-called poetry workshops on Saturday and Sunday morning; a public discussion on Sunday afternoon. The organizers took turns as moderators, with different temperaments but equally friendly, patient and attentive, pleasantly casual, but never sloppy. Participation consistently very good. With a multitude of other events in Hamburg this weekend, an astonishingly high number of interested parties.

A few months after the event, Steve P. Peinemann comes to the city magazine Szene Hamburg under the title The Ivory Tower Explodes to an equally positive conclusion about the lyric festival that took place:

  • “Some people bought the very first volume of poetry of their lives at the bookseller's stand. Around 30 poets read and discussed for three days, and the place was always full. They weren't a distinguished 'Guldur audience', they were ... people. And they got into poetry tremendously. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See meeting in the Hanseatic city. Natias Neutert: Word and Magic , in: Weser Kurier , January 23, 1977.
  2. ↑ See Boa Vista 5, Zeitschrift für Neue Literatur. Hamburg 1977, p. 95.
  3. ^ Radio 107 of March 8, 1977
  4. ↑ See list of activities. in: Natias-Neutert-Nachlass-zu-Lebzeiten-Archiv, accessed November 1, 2013.
  5. ↑ See Spiegel No. 28 of July 4, 1977, p. 116.
  6. ↑ See the Lyrik Festival '77 program .
  7. ↑ See poster Lyrik Festival '77
  8. ↑ Steve B. Peinemann: The ivory tower explodes - literature gets to know people. In: Szene Hamburg No. 12, December 1977.