On Sunday 15 November at 11.00 am, the ‘Literaturforum Bibliothek’ – a state-wide reading tour organised by the Saxony Library Association – will draw to a close with its finale in Chemnitz. Since 30 September, 20 authors have travelled across the Free State for around 60 readings. The programme offered a wide variety of events: 37 of the sessions were public readings, whilst a further 22 took place as private events in schools and nurseries. The forum sees itself as a showcase for contemporary Saxon literature.
Chemnitz City Library, as a partner and co-organiser of the ‘Literaturforum Bibliothek’, invites you to the following two events:
Wednesday, 11 November, 6.00 pm – ‘The Odyssey of the St. Louis’
Translator Anja Kootz will present the graphic novel *The Odyssey of the St. Louis* at the Central Library in the TIETZ.
On 13 May 1939, the ‘St. Louis’ left the port of Hamburg bound for Cuba. On board were 937 Jewish passengers, hoping to escape the terror of the Nazis and find refuge in Cuba. But shortly before arrival, the refugees’ hopes are dashed: the Cuban government refuses entry to almost all of them. The USA and Canada also turn the ship away. Captain Gustav Schröder does everything in his power to find a safe harbour. But where to go when no one is willing to take them in?
This graphic novel tells the true story of flight, courage, humanity and the moral failure of the international community: atmospheric, historically accurate and moving. This powerful narrative is complemented by an interview with survivor Sol Messinger, a foreword from the Shoah Museum in Rome, and the Canadian government’s official apology from 2018.
A powerful piece of remembrance culture that demonstrates what moral courage means – then as now.
Anja Kootz (pen name Anja Kapunkt) was born in Mecklenburg in 1977 and completed her studies in American Studies, Cultural Studies and German Studies in Berlin. Following extended stays abroad in New York and Paris, she now works as a freelance translator, editor and author. She translates literary texts from English and French into German, including works for Septime Verlag. Alongside her work as a translator, she serves on the board of the association Fähre e. V. – Forum for Literary Translation in Saxony. She is also active as a photographer: her portrait series ‘Plainly Visible’, which features literary translators, has been exhibited at venues including the Literaturhaus Leipzig.
Nationwide reading tour: ‘Literaturforum Bibliothek’
Chemnitz City Library: Presentation of a graphic novel on 11 November at 6.00 pm – Finale: Chemnitz Book Salon on 15 November at 11.00 am
Sunday, 15 November, 11.00 am – Chemnitz Book Salon and reading from ‘Michaela Kohlhaas’ by Heike Geißler (finale of the reading tour)
The Chemnitz Book Salon is a matinee event organised by the Central Library.
Three critics discuss three recent autumn titles from Saxony:
• Eileen Mägel, a Dresden-based author and poet, talks about *Die zweitgrößte Liebe* by Ruth Maria Thomas
• Angela Malz, a long-standing member of the Chemnitz Literary Quintet, discusses ‘Stolz und Zweifel’ by Marlen Hobrack.
• Burkhard Müller, a long-standing reviewer for the Book Salon and literary critic, discusses *Nach der Sonne schauen* by Martina Hefter.
Afterwards, Heike Geißler will read from her new novel *Michaela Kohlhaas*, with Eileen Mägel hosting the event.
“His sense of justice turned him into a robber and a murderer.” So writes Heinrich von Kleist in his novella of the same name about the horse dealer Michael Kohlhaas, who exacts bloody revenge after suffering an injustice. Even 200 years later, his campaign of vengeance serves as a model and a blueprint for Michaela Kohlhaas, a deputy cemetery administrator. Fuelled by her experience of arbitrariness and powerlessness, she becomes a rebel. Yet whereas Michael Kohlhaas murdered and pillaged, she acts primarily through words: through escalation, exaggeration, sabotage and theatrics. Like a supposed witch, she roams the countryside cursing and uttering hexes. And she is forced to realise: It is a disadvantage to be a woman. It is a disadvantage to fight back. Yet even if the whole world declares her mad – she marches ‘with banners flying’ towards her end, hoping for a happy ending, yet sensing: there may not be such an ending after all.
Heike Geißler’s ‘Michaela Kohlhaas’ is a daring reworking of Heinrich von Kleist’s famous novella. Her Michaela is a scold, a foul-mouthed woman, a tender soul. A great lover who does not merely seek reform – she demands redress and atonement. And a completely different order of the world.
Heike Geißler, born in Riesa in 1977, is an author. She also works across disciplines in various collaborations (Sabotique and George Bele). Heike Geißler was most recently the Dorothea Schlegel Artist-in-Residence at the Free University of Berlin and has received the Klopstock Prize for New Literature, the Heinrich Böll Prize and the Bavarian Book Prize. She lives in Leipzig.