2021 marked the 11th anniversary of Festival Neue Literatur (November 11–14), the first and only festival to spotlight German-language and U.S. fiction together.
Entering its second decade highlighting important work from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and the U.S., the theme of the 2021 festival was "Turn and Face the Strange." The writers and publishing luminaries featured this year were Anna Baar, Joshua Cohen, Isabel Fargo Cole, Judith Keller, Helen Phillips, Benjamin Quaderer, Sasha Marianna Salzmann, and Ivna Žic. For the first time in festival history, an author from Liechtenstein joined the lineup.
The eleventh edition of the Festival Neue Literatur, which was curated by Tess Lewis and Alta Price, invited authors and attendees alike to "Turn and Face the Strange." The books featured explored the strangeness, uncanniness, and eeriness that sometimes lurks just beneath the surface of daily life and that can break out full force in times of change—whether large or small, internal or external, real or imagined, spatial or temporal. We started with out-of-body experiences, the loneliness of a con-man in a tiny country, a lost twin, time travel in and out of complicated pasts and no less complicated presents, poisonous bees, a miracle or two, deer-headed intruders, along with a series of far-fetched women—and then things got really strange.
Virtual Event: Festival opening ceremony
Thursday, November 11, 6:00 PM (EDT):
Festival Neue Literatur cordially invites you to celebrate the opening of Festival Neue Literatur 2021 and the Friedrich Ulfers Prize award ceremony. Presented by Deutsches Haus at NYU, the Friedrich Ulfers Prize honors an individual who has championed the advancement of German-language literature in the United States. The 2021 Friedrich Ulfers Prize Recipient is Jill Schoolman, the celebrated publisher of Archipelago Books. A laudation will be given by award-winning translator Tess Lewis.
Virtual Event: "Words with Writers"
Friday, November 12, 12:00 PM (EDT):
New York’s brightest students from Columbia University, New York University, Rutgers College, and the University of Chicago take on FNL authors in a lightning round of literary interviews. Featuring all six German-language authors: Anna Baar (Austria); Isabel Fargo Cole and Sasha Marianna Salzmann (Germany); Judith Keller and Ivna Žic (Switzerland); and Benjamin Quaderer (Liechtenstein) – as well as students Manuela Ruckdeschel (NYU), Elisabeth Oberlerchner (Rutgers), Aziza Kasumov (Columbia), Robert Joseph Rubsam (Columbia), Anamarie Katayoon Pasdar (Columbia), and James Korzenik (University of Chicago). Moderated by festival co-curator Alta Price.
Virtual Event: "The Author's Voice"
Friday, November 12, 6:00 PM (EDT)
The six German-language authors of Festival Neue Literatur pair up with celebrated American authors to give a sampling from their work, providing a taste of new writing from Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Moderated by the award-winning author Monique Truong. English excerpts will be read by American authors Ulrich Baer, Peter Filkins, John Freeman, John Keene, Idra Novey, John Wray, and more. Featuring all six German-language authors: Anna Baar (Austria); Isabel Fargo Cole and Sasha Marianna Salzmann (Germany); Judith Keller and Ivna Žic (Switzerland); and Benjamin Quaderer (Liechtenstein)
Virtual Event: "Poisoned Roots"
Saturday, November 13, 1:00 PM (EDT)
The after-effects of war—hot or cold—reverberate through generations. This panel will explore how experiences of war shape even generations and societies who believe they’ve been spared. This is nothing new: as Homer warned, ‘Beware the toils of war… the huge dragnet sweeping up the world’. Can literature build antibodies by bringing those toxins to light? Featuring: Anna Baar (Austria); Joshua Cohen (United States); Isabel Fargo Cole (Germany); and Ivna Žic (Switzerland).
Hybrid Event: "Who Are You Calling Strange?"
Saturday, November 13, 4:00 PM (EDT)
Goethe-Institut New York Library, 30 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003
The festival’s signature translation event returns to explore how translation can refine and even redefine dominant historical and socio-political norms and narratives.
Translation pairings:
I. Sawako Nakayasu and Katrine Jensen
II. Jill Schoolman with Archipelago translators Peter Wortsman, Mary Ann Newman, and Tess Lewis
III. Isabel Fargo Cole and Jennifer Croft (Virtual)
Virtual event: "Alternate Realities"
Sunday, November 14, 1:00 PM (EDT)
How can fiction help us question our assumptions about what seems most familiar? This panel will explore the way literature can sharpen our sense of realit(ies) by unsettling us. Featuring: Judith Keller (Switzerland), Helen Phillips (United States), Benjamin Quaderer (Liechtenstein), and Sasha Marianna Salzmann (Germany). Moderated by Festival co-curator Tess Lewis.
ABOUT FESTIVAL NEUE LITERATUR: Festival Neue Literatur (FNL) is a collaborative project of New York’s leading German-language cultural institutions: the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, the German Consulate General New York, the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, Columbia University School of the Arts, Deutsches Haus at NYU, and the Goethe-Institut New York.
Festival Neue Literatur is made possible through the generous support of the Federal Foreign Office, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.