From the housing projects of Berlin, to the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, with forays through the streets of Bucharest, the 2019 edition of the annual Zeitgeist Literature Festival brings you the best in contemporary German-language literature. Please join the Goethe-Institut Washington, the Austrian Cultural Forum, and the Embassy of Switzerland in welcoming three leading German-language novelists to the nation’s capital – where they will present their latest work in a reading and conversation with three prominent local writers.
This year’s overarching theme, “The New Nostalgia,“ highlights compelling new works by Stefanie de Velasco from Germany (Tigermilch / Tiger Milk), Daniela Emminger from Austria (Kafka mit Flügeln / Kafka with Wings), and Dana Grigorcea from Switzerland (Das primäre Gefühl der Schuldlosigkeit /An Instinctive Feeling of Innocence) that explore self-discovery, memory, multicultural identity and friendship, and the relationships between past and present. The writers will be joined on stage by prominent Washington, D.C. authors E. Ethelbert Miller, Melissa Scholes Young, and Josh Weiner for discussion and reading (in English).
Doors open at 5:30 at LaPop Cultural Salon in Adams Morgan, D.C. Guests are invited to enjoy beverage and food offerings (cash bar) at this unique underground space before the event, and will also have the opportunity to engage with the writers both before and after the reading. A reception will take place afterwards. The English-language conversation will be moderated by poet and translator Suzanne Zweizig.
Presented in partnership with The Writer’s Center.