Babelspeak. International

Poetry is enjoying renewed attention in the German-speaking world. This is due in part to the project “Babelspeak. Young German-Speaking Poetry”, initiated by the Federal Cultural Foundation in 2013. The aim of the project was to specifically strengthen the young poetry scene through network-building. Its success in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein had encouraged poets to expand their networks internationally. At a time of resurgent nationalist tendencies, young poets (seldom older than 30) found it all the more urgent to create a common cultural and artistic space of European reference in which focus was also placed on the translation of poetry and its contextual requirements. In addition to workshops in Ukraine and Slovenia conducted with local partner institutions, the project held international conferences in Salzburg (2016), Berlin (2017) and Liechtenstein (2018). During the course of the three-year project, numerous readings have been staged in the six participating countries, at which writers from German-speaking countries read their works alongside international guests in a public demonstration of exchange and collaboration.

Project director: Literarisches Colloquium Berlin e.V.
Curators: Max Czollek, Michelle Steinbeck (CH), Simone Lappert (CH), Robert Prosser (AT)

Writers: Daniela Chana (AT), Sirka Elspaß, Moritz Gause, Raphaela Grolimund (CH), Pablo Haller (CH), Ianina Ilitcheva (UZ), Jopa Jotakin (AT), Judith Keller, Niklas Lemniskate, Enis Maci and others

Venues and Dates:

Literarisches Colloquium Berlin: December 2016 – December 2018; Thuringia, Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Basel, Salzburg, Vaduz, Ljubljana, Vienna and other cities