Michael Lederer (Author)

Michael Lederer (born July 9, 1956 in Princeton , New Jersey ) is an American author of various novels and short stories as well as a poet and writer of plays who lives in Berlin . The world has named him "a true archaeologist among the great American writers." He is also the founder and artistic director of the Dubrovnik Shakespeare Festival in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Michael Lederer

life and work

Childhood and adolescence

Michael Lederer was born in Princeton, New Jersey, where his father, Ivo Lederer, taught contemporary Russian and Eastern European diplomatic history at Princeton University . His father came from the area that is part of today's Croatia . In 1957, his family moved to New Haven, Connecticut. In 1965 the entire family moved again to Palo Alto, California. Lederer attended Palo Alto School and graduated from Henry M. Gunn High School in 1974. From 1975 to 1977 Lederer lived in a tipi tent in a hippie commune called "The Land in the Santa Cruz Mountains" in California. The community was founded by Joan Baez as an institute for research into non-violence. A detailed interview with Lederer about his time in "Land" can be found on The Land's website . From 1977 to 1981 Lederer studied at Binghamton University in New York and obtained a master's degree in theater studies. 1982–1984 Lederer worked as an actor and played numerous leading roles at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California .

Professional background

Between 1984 and 1985 Lederer wrote his first novel Nothing is for Eternity in La Herradura, a fishing village in southern Spain where he ended up at the time. The story tells the fate of a family who have to decide whether they are ready to sell their small farm to a real estate agent. Nothing lasts forever anymore was published in Cadaqués in 1999 by a small publisher called Parsifal Ediciones under the title Ya nada dura eternamente . In 2001, the Catalan writer David Marti reviewed the book in the French literary magazine Remanences as follows: “So far, nobody has succeeded as well as Michael Lederer in conjuring up the tranquility of our lives and our dreams on the coast of the simultaneously fragile and powerful Mediterranean. “In March 2013 Nothing lasts forever anymore was published in a revised edition in English and German by PalmArt Press in Berlin and presented at the Leipzig Book Fair . The German title is nothing is more for eternity . 1986-1993 Lederer worked again as an actor in San Francisco. During this time he also worked as chief cataloger at William P. Wreden, one of the most famous American rare books and manuscript firms. In 1993 Lederer moved to New York, where he worked as an assistant director at the Stuart Levy Art Gallery. In 1998 Lederer co-founded the Safe Haven Museum in Oswego (New York). The museum reconstructs the journey of the only group of Jewish refugees from Europe who found admission to the United States during World War II . Among the 982 refugees was his aunt and grandparents as well as Lederer's father, who was born in Zagreb ( Yugoslavia ). Immediately after their arrival by ship in the port of New York, the refugees were taken to a refugee camp, which was then at the current location of the museum. The story of the 982 refugees is shown in the 2001 film Haven, starring Natasha Richardson and Hal Holbrook . From 1997 to 1999, Lederer founded the 17th century Sir George Downing manuscript collection at Harvard University . Lederer is a member of the Künstlerhof Group Berlin. He is a lifetime member of the National Arts Club in New York City and a member of the Players Club theater club , also in New York City.

Dubrovnik Shakespeare Festival

In 2009 Lederer founded the Dubrovnik Shakespeare Festival in Dubrovnik (Croatia), where u. a. Plays by Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle, Marin Drzic and Daniel Foley will be played. With the intention of promoting Dubrovnik at home and abroad, the first walking performance organized by DSF was Lederer's own play, Mundo Overloadus . Mundo Overloadus was also performed in 2010 at Performance Space 122 in East Village, New York. In Beating the Global Odds , Paul A. Laudicina summarizes Lederer's piece with the following quote: “Imagine that at the end of the day you knew the entire knowledge of human civilization inside out and came to the conclusion that nothing really caused you anything but migraines . Michael Lederer, an American writer who lives in Berlin and Dubrovnik (Croatia), calls this Mundo Overloadus , that is the title of the piece, which premiered in New York. ”The Croatian President (and composer) Ivo Josipović , the director Irina Brook and the artist Genia Chef were among the people who worked to create the Dubrovnik Shakespeare Festival. The festival is supported by the city of Dubrovnik, the government of Croatia and private sponsors from the tourism sector. DSF is also creating its own museum program in cooperation with the Marin Drzik Museum in Dubrovnik.

The big game

The big game , a collection of Lederer's short stories and sonnets, was published in English and German by PalmArt Press in Berlin in 2012. The book was presented at the Book Fair in Leipzig. The Berliner Morgenpost described the big game as… “wonderfully ironic…. an excellent chronicle of loss, in which we are shown characters who have fallen through the grid of our increasingly networked world. ”Die Welt wrote:“ In these stories, small dramas and great comedies take place - according to Shakespeare's motto from “King Lear ”that“ the worst ”always turns into“ laughter ”in the end. These are fascinating excavations, Michael Lederer is a true archaeologist among the great American writers. "The American playwright John Guare wrote of The Great Game that" Michael Lederer writes with the intensity of an old soul who sits by the campfire and himself piecing together one passionate story after another to heat up the winter night. A real treat! ”Russian novelist Vladimir Sorokin commented that…“ In Michael Lederer's stories it would be as if the author had deliberately and meticulously erected a delicate building, only to then see it again before the eyes of the beholder a single gross movement to destroy. The ruins that remain are fascinating. "

Cadaques

In February 2014 PalmArtPress published Lederer's first longer novel, Cadaques , in both English and German. The novel was selected by the American Embassy in Berlin as part of their 2014 literary series. Cadaques tells the story of the American writer Cal, who spent a summer indulging in excessive alcohol in the Spanish fishing village of Cadaques, together with artists and writers from all over the world who mourn the faded splendor of the great surrealists. Cal begins a stormy relationship with the beautiful Layla, who eventually leaves him because of his addiction. Only through this low point Cal finally succeeds in taking up the fight against the demon alcohol in Berlin. Michael Kreisel, from InKultura magazine, writes in the book review: “Michael Lederer tells the story of a summer with literary force, which, although it started with high spirits, ends with a deep, very deep crash. Cadaqués is a novel about a generation of self-proclaimed and moderately to barely successful artists who have settled down comfortably in the myth of Cadaqués and see themselves as legitimate successors of the former art greats living in this place, but who spend their time exploring possible potential and artistic To waste creativity and instead live largely in a subjunctive sphere. "

Private life

In 1982 Lederer married his first wife Judy and their son Nicholas was born in 1988. Lederer has lived in Berlin since 1998. He and his wife Katarina, of Polish descent, also live in Dubrovnik (Croatia) and Cadaqués (Spain).

literature

• Interview with Michael Lederer in Moskar Magazin.
• Irina Vlasic: Malo Je Mjesta Na Svijetu. In: Moskar Magazine. March 25, 2011, pp. 12-15.

Web links

• Michael Lederer's website
• Interview with Michael Lederer - The Land
• Guest of the week - Michael Lederer - Dubrovnik Times
• Dubrovnik ideal stage for Shakespeare Festival - Dubrovnik Times
• U Dubrovniku su mnogi nesretni što Shakespeare dobiva Festival - Forum magazine
• “To help bring the world to Dubrovnik, and Dubrovnik to the world” - Dubrovnik Times
• About the Dubrovnik Shakespeare Festival - velikabritanija.net
• Proljeće u Dubrovniku u znaku Shakespeare Festivala - nacional.hr
• Interview with Michael Lederer in the book magazine.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ralph Huebner: Who is Who in the Federal Republic of Germany . Huebners Who is Who, Switzerland 2007, ISBN 978-3-7290-0064-0 , p. 3020.
2. ↑ Christoph Klimke: Losses like fascinating excavations . In: Die Welt , May 5, 2012. 
3. ^ Holcomb B. Noble: Ivo John Lederer, a Scholar of Eastern Europe is Dead at 68 . In: The New York Times , June 25, 1998. 
4. ^ David Harris: The Short Happy Life of a Child of 'The Land' . In: New York Times Magazine . June 11, 1978, pp. 30-33.
5. ^ Court Tefft: Michael Lederer . Retrieved June 7, 2014.
6. ↑ Michael Lederer: Ya Nada Dura Eternamente . Parsifal Ediciones, Barcelona 1999, ISBN 978-84-87265-99-0 .
7. ^ David Marti: Michael Lederer: or the extrapolation between the old and the modern myth . In: Remanences . V, May 2001, pp. 199-200.
8. ↑ Nothing Lasts Forever Anymore at PalmArt Press
9. ↑ Great Britain. Exchequer. Great Britain Exchequer payment memoranda, 1665–1666 (MS Eng 1678): Guide. . Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 7, 2014. 
10. ^ MTI: Dubrovniki Shakespeare-fesztivál az előszezonban . Turizmus.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 19, 2011. 
11. ↑ Marijana Aksic Vitkovic: Dogodine stize Shakespeare . In: List Dubrovacki . May 5, 2011, pp. 52-53.
12. ↑ BWW News Desk: MUNDO OVERLOADUS Opens at PS 122, 9/7 . www.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
13. ↑ Adam Hetrick: Mundo Overloadus Will Make World Premiere at PS 122 . www.playbill.com. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
14. ↑ Paul A. Laudicina: Beating the Global Odds . John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey 2012, ISBN 978-1-118-34711-9 , p. 16.
15. ^ Mark Thomas: President Josipović meets Dubrovnik Shakespeare Festival . In: The Dubrovnik Times , July 11th, 2011. Archived from the original on January 6th, 2014 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 26, 2012.  
16. ↑ Gabrijela Bijelic: DUBROVNIK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL - NOVA KULTURNA MANIFESTACIJA NA ULICAMA GRADA OD 23. TRAVNJA THU 7. SVIBNJA 2012. 'Oluja' i 'Romeo i Julija' na dubrovačkim trgovima . Slobodna Dalmacija. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
17. ↑ Mark Thomas: GUEST OF THE WEEK - MICHAEL LEDERER "To help bring the world to Dubrovnik, and Dubrovnik to the world" . In: The Dubrovnik Times , July 2, 2012. Archived from the original on October 10, 2013 Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 26, 2012.  
18. ↑ Dubrovnik Festival - sponsors
19. ↑ Mark Thomas: THE WORLD OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Marin Držić hosts Shakespeare in his home . In: The Dubrovnik Times , July 15, 2011. Archived from the original on January 6, 2014 Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 26, 2012.  
20. ↑ Michael Lederer: The Great Game . PalmArt Press, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-941524-12-5 .
21. ↑ Tales on a train ride from Berlin to Warsaw . In: Berliner Morgenpost , May 4, 2012. 
22. ↑ Christoph Klimke: Losses like fascinating excavations . In: Die Welt , May 5, 2012. 
23. ↑ The Great Game in PalmArt Press
24. ↑ Cadaques at PalmArt Press
25. ^ The US Embassy Literature Series . Website of the English Theater Berlin. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
26. ↑ InKultura: Book Review Michael Lederer, Cadaques