Main location of the festival:

Goethe-Institut Bukarest
Calea Dorobanti 32
RO- 010573 Bukarest

 

Thursday, February 22

 

5 pm

Venue: Goethe-Institut Bukarest
Calea Dorobanti 32

Music: Johnny Bica                 

Welcome: Hans Ruprecht [CH], Ulrich Schreiber [D]   Festival directors, Dr.  Joachim Umlauf, Goethe Institut Bukarest [R]

Greeting:  E.S. Domnul Igor Prokopchuk, Ambasadorul Urainei în România Laura Napolitano [I], EUNIC

Opening speech by Radu Vancu [R] A Humanity Whose Words Do Not Fail the Human 

 

Barbarism does not have the last word, but literature does. In his speech, Radu Vancu outlines the Europe that needs to be created: a Europe in which words are not used to establish death or ideologies of extermination – but a Europe in which words bear witness against barbarism. Where words bear witness that people can be murdered – but not annihilated. Where we put our words at the service of our fellow human beings and not at the service of ideologies.

Moderation: Gabriel Horatiu Decuble

Language: English

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

6.30 pm

Philippe Sands [UK]: Genocide, Remembrance, Justice

In books such as “The Ratline” (2020) and “My Lviv” (2016), which won Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2017, the lawyer and professor of international law reflects on the origins of genocide and crimes against humanity, partly based on his own family history. In his latest book about India, “The last colony” (2022), he also shows that colonialism has not yet been overcome.

Moderation: Marian Voicu

Language: English

 

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

 

8 pm

 

Poetry Night I

 Paula Erizanu [MLD], Iya Kiva [UA], Vasyl Makhno [UA/ USA]

The journalist and writer Paula Erizanu (*1992 in Kishinau) refers to the political developments in her home country Moldova in her non-fiction books as well as in her poetry. As an editor, she has specialized in female poetry from her homeland.

Poet, translator and graphic designer Iya Kiva (*1984 in Donetsk), whose texts have been translated into over 15 languages, reflects on language and speechlessness, on identity and memory, on collective and personal experiences of war, trauma and uprooting.

The multi-award-winning poet, essayist and translator Vasyl Makhno (*1964 in Chortkiv) has published over fourteen collections of poetry in which he explores, among other things, the concepts of homeland and memory and reflects the polyphonic past of his place of origin, where Ukrainians, Poles, Jews and Roma once lived side by side.

Language: English, Ukrainian, Romanian

Moderation: Ernest Wichner

 

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

 

Friday, February 23

 

2 pm

Yuriy Vynnychuk [UA]

The author is considered the most versatile of Ukrainian writers, a tireless critic of the political system and representative of Galician literature, who reflects above all on the culture of remembrance and foresaw today’s war in his works. His novels and short stories, plays and poetry make him a living legend of modern Ukrainian literature. In this discussion, he will present his novels “Tango of Death”, “Malva Landa”, “Lutetia” and “The Apothecary”.

Moderation: Vasyl Makhno

Language: English

 

3:30 pm

Ariane von Graffenried [CH]: BABYLON PARK / 50 HERTZ

Award-winning author and spoken word performer Ariane von Graffenried, member of the duo “Fitzgerald & Rimini” and curator of the International Poetry Festival Basel, presents texts from “Babylon Park” (2027) and “50 Hertz” (2019). She playfully switches from the concrete to the poetic and between languages and dialects to sing the praises of unique female characters, literary landscapes, reality and fantasy.

Moderation: Jonas Lüscher

Language: English

 

5 pm

Jonas Lüscher [CH / D]: The populist planet – voices from a world in turmoil

In 2019 and 2020, Jonas Lüscher exchanged letters with seven intellectuals from around the world on the subject of populism. The result is a multifaceted conversation about the most diverse manifestations of populist movements. What unites populists around the world, what distinguishes them and what impact does this have on the realities of life in each case? Are the promises and temptations of populists similar everywhere? And if so, what kind of world and society do the populists promise?

Moderation: Joachim Umlauf
Language: English

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

6:30 pm

Norman Ohler [D]: THE TOTAL INTOXICATION / THE STRONGEST SUBSTANCE/ WAR ON DRUGS

Ohler’s first non-fiction book “Der totale Rausch: Drogen im Dritten Reich” (2015), which has been translated into more than 30 languages and was on the New York Times bestseller list, describes the consequences of drug abuse among military and political leaders. His latest book, “The Strongest Substance” (2023), sheds light on the history of the development of LSD and differentiates between three functions of drugs: as an intoxicant, as a tool for mind control and as a cure.

Moderation: Eugen Hriscu

Language: English

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

 

8 pm

Daniel Kehlmann [D]: TYLL 

In his novel, Kehlmann “draws up the panorama of a blatantly compassionless epoch in which human life counts for nothing (…) but sets a new tone of attentiveness to human misery”. (Sigrid Löffler) At the beginning of the 17th century, the vagabond, showman and provocateur comes into conflict with the church and encounters the church.

On his wanderings through a country devastated by the religious wars, he encounters many human destinies that condense into an epic of the Thirty Years’ War.

Moderation: Matei Martin [RO]

Language: English

 

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

 

Saturday, February 24

 

 12 pm

WORLDWIDE READING OF UKRAINIAN LITERATURE

The worldwide readings continue! In Copenhagen, Erevan, Calcutta, Milan, Zaporizhia , Berlin and other cities, texts by Ukrainian authors will be read in Bucharest, including those by the poets Volodimir Vakulenko, Victoria Amelina and Maksym Kryvtzov, who were killed in the war. In a film produced especially for the worldwide reading, Yurij Andruchovitch, Svitlana Bondar, Andrei Kurkov, Marie Iljašenko, Iya Kiva, Dmytro Lazutkin, Halyna Kruk, Vasyl Makhno from Ukraine, Dan Sociu and Varujan Vosganian from Romania as well as Nora Bossong, Daniel Kehlmann and Jan Koneffke from Germany, among others, will read Ukrainian texts. We would like to thank the Goethe Institutes for their cooperation.

This event can be watched online, also after the festival

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

 14.00 pm. online event from Odesa

LITERATURE ON WAR, WRITERS ABOUT WAR

As part of the IX International Literature Festival Odesa, we will talk about literature and war, about authors and numerous works that have appeared over the 10 years of struggle.

Poet and journalist Olena Huseinova, writer and soldier Bohdan Kolomiychuk, and writer and volunteer Halyna Litsur-Shchadey will talk about their experience of writing texts reflecting on the events of recent years.

We will also honour the memory of those authors who have died, but whose words live on in the ranks.

At the end of the talk, we will present a video for Halyna Litsur-Shchadey’s text Nine Scattered Universes, created with the help of Suspilne Ivano-Frankivsk.

We really wanted to hold this event live in Odesa, but it didn’t work out.

The event will be available online. Join us!

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

Moderation: Svitlana Bondar

Language: Ukrainian

3 pm

Olivier Guez [F]  about the past, present and future of Europe

The Strasbourg author and journalist Olivier Guez, who was honored with the German Film Prize for his screenplay “Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer”, discusses with the celebrated author Norman Ohler about used and missed opportunities in the realization of the dream of Europe in a time of profound political and cultural changes.

Moderation: Norman Ohler [D]

Language: English

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

4:30 pm

Film screening: SCARRED HEARTS

Director: Radu Jude

Introduction: Ernest Wichner

 

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

6:00 pm

Memory, Speak

Blecher (1909-1938): SCARRED HEARTS. Reading and conversation

This autobiographical novel from 1937 tells the story of a Romanian chemistry student in Paris who falls ill with bone tuberculosis and spends almost a year in a sanatorium on the Atlantic. He increasingly falls under the spell of the fascinating company of the sick, from which even the cured can hardly free themselves. “The paradox of all important art also applies here, in Blecher’s wonderful prose: the misfortune so suggestively described becomes the reader’s intellectual happiness.” (“FAZ”). Ernest Wichner translates the novel into German.

Doris Mironescu [RO]

Moderation: Ernest Wichner [D]

Language: English, Romanian

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

7:30  pm

Poetry Night II 

Ernest Wichner [D], Marie Iljašenko [CZ/UA], Nichita Danilov [RO]

The lyrical texts of Ernest Wichner (* 1952 in Zăbrani, Banat) are characterized by clarity of statement, short cuts and abrupt endings, whereby a meaning can be surprisingly reinforced by an anti-climax.

Marie Iljašenko (* 1983 in Kiev) writes her poems in Czech, her works have been nominated for several prestigious awards and show a broad spectrum of influences from different languages, experiences and cultures that are part of her multicultural identity.

The poet, writer and translator Nichita Danilov (* 1952 in Climäuti, Muşenita) has published seven volumes of poetry, in which he captures the spiritual and metaphysical heritage of his native Romania in a surrealist poetics with playful and ironic expression.

Moderation: Gabriel Horatiu Decuble

Languages: English, Czech, German, Romanian

 

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

 

8 :00 pm

Film screening: Photophobia

directors: Ivan Ostrochovský & Pavol Pekarcik

Venue: Institututul Francez din România la București
Bulevardul Dacia, nr. 77

On a cold February morning, 12-year-old Niki and his family arrive at the Kharkiv metro station to take shelter from the terrifying war raging outside. For Niki’s family, daylight is synonymous with mortal danger, and the boy is not allowed to leave the station premises, living under the constant glow of their neon lights. While aimlessly wandering around the abandoned cars and full platforms, Niki meets Vika (11), and a new world opens up to him. As their bond strengthens, the children find the courage once again to feel the sun on their faces.

 

 

Sunday, February 25

 

11 am

The Art of Podcast

Ilaria Gaspari [I]: CHEZ PROUST / BACHMANN  

Since October 2023, the Milan-born writer has been publishing her literary podcasts on works by well-known writers in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum Rome and the Goethe-Institut Italy. The compositions of memories, quotations, excerpts and poems, some of which are original recordings of readings, also include a search for traces of Ingeborg Bachmann’s life in Rome.

Moderation: Razvan Tupa

Language: English

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

 

 

12:30  pm

 

Location matters. Stories from the Black Sea – Black Sea Lit 

Lavinia Braniste [RO],Archil Kikodze [GE],Anush Kocharyan [AM], Halyna Kruk [UA] 

Stories from the Black Sea – Black Sea Lit brings together ten outstanding writers from five countries in the Black Sea region to engage in a dialogue about regionality, identity and the possibilities of a common language. At the Odesa Lit Festival, Lavinia Branişte (Romania), , Anush Kocharyan (Armenia), Halyna Kruk (Ukraine)  will come together for an exchange on the question of locality in the context of current crises in literature.

Black Sea Lit is a project of the Goethe-Institut and the Goethe Centre Yerevan. More information at: Geschichten vom Schwarzen Meer – Black Sea Lit – Goethe-Institut.

Introduction: Jan-Tage Kühling (Goethe Centre Yerevan)

Moderation: Arevik Ashkharoyan

 Language: English

 

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

2 pm

event canceled 

Karl-Markus Gauss [A]: THE ART OF TRAVEL LITERATURE

The writer and editor, who has been awarded the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding 2022, among others, knows like no other how to combine the genres of reportage, history and autobiography into a unique form of travel literature. He is not only an expert on the countries and landscapes of Eastern Europe, but “above all a great philosopher of disappearance, of the vanishing, who wants to rescue people and things, the silenced and the forgotten into memory.” (“Wiener Zeitung”)

Moderation: Marius Chivu

Language: English

 

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

3:30 pm

Nora Iuga [RO]: Conversation with Ernest Wichner on her poetry

The grande dame of Romanian poetry and award-winning translator of German literature reads from her poems, which were first published in 1968. Due to their diversity, they cannot be assigned to any particular genre. Nora Iuga’s poetry combines the everyday with the unusual, reality with the irrational and follows a path of dreams, at the center of which, however, is always the human being with his existential experiences.

Moderation: Ernest Wichner

Language: Romanian, German

 

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

5:00 pm

Norris von Schirach [D/ RO]: BLASSE HELDEN

In his debut, Norris von Schirach, alias Arthur Isarin, paints a garish portrait of the 1990s in Eastern Europe from the perspective of a strolling stranger. In Mykolaiv, where his protagonist and a KGB officer have ended up, cholera breaks out and post-Soviet abysses open up during the imposed quarantine. His novel is a “bold literary adventure” (Viktor Jerofejew).

Pale Heroes is set in the 1990s in Moscow, Siberia and Southern Ukraine during the euphoria and the abyss that followed the implosion of the Soviet Union. According to Viktor Yerofevev, “you should read ‘Pale Heroes’ if you want to understand today’s Russia”.

Moderation: Gabriel Horatiu Decuble

Language: English

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa

 

6:30 pm

Nichita Danilov [RO]: VULTURII ORBI, Dan Sociu [RO] : Poetry

In his texts, Danilov recreates the village world of his childhood and uses memorable images to depict the real and unreal worlds of different languages and cultures with their enormous upheavals of recent times. Sociu, who belongs to the “2000s” generation of poets, with a preference for anti-heroes and biographical writing, cultivates a youthful ductus in his poems as an expression of the longing for metaphysical passion.

Moderation: Ernest Wichner

Language: Romanian, English

This event can be watched online 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@internationalliteraturefes7445

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InternationalesLiteraturfestivalOdesa