ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE EVERYDAY FORCES
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Thu. 19.10.2023 / 19:00 hrs.
ISOP, Dreihackengasse 2, 8020 Graz

Readings:

JJ Bola (DR Congo/UK)

Adania Shibli (Palestine)

Maria Stepanova (Russia)

Adania Shibli, Maria Stepanova and JJ Bola portray a world on the edge of the abyss. Wars, abuse, trauma, depression and loneliness are the themes of their literature. It is often nameless people, forgotten and dead, women and migrants, to whom these writers give back not only a story but also their humanity. Their writing invites continual journeys between the present and the past, between the places of origin and those that one makes one's own. The three writers also share a common destiny from which they speak, write, and invent new worlds: Exile.

THE HOLY VIRGIN OF THE NILE
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Thu., 19.10.2023 / 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Institute for Romance Studies, Merangasse 70, 8010 Graz, 3rd floor/SR 33.3088

Reading:
Scholastique Mukasonga (Rwanda/France)

Scholastique Mukasonga reads from her novel "Notre-Dame du Nil" (Renaudot Prize for Literature). The author sees herself as a memory keeper and says she was saved by books. Through reading and writing, she also wants to contribute to the prevention of crimes against humanity and to respectful coexistence. The author has lived and worked as a social worker in Normandy since 1992.

MEASUREMENT OF BODIES, SOULS AND TERRITORIES
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Fri, 20.10.2023 / 19:00
Forum Stadtpark, Stadtpark 1, 8010 Graz

Readings:
Simone Atangana Bekono (Netherlands)
Aris Fioretos (Sweden)
Homage to Audre Lorde (USA; 1934 - 1992)
Scholastique Mukasonga (Rwanda/France)

Literature is the place where the close entanglement between political issues and identity issues is revealed. Audre Lorde, the great writer and activist of the women's and civil rights movement, was concerned throughout her life with the position of Black women in society. Simone Atangana Bekono's poetry and prose are also about being a woman and being black, but in a European context. Aris Fioretos' work is strongly influenced by his own questions of origin: as the child of Austrian-Greek parents, he grew up in Sweden. Many of his novel characters are characterized by being torn between multiple identities. Scholastique Mukasonga has made the effects of the colonial racial ideologies that led to the genocide in Rwanda the subject of her literature. Book by book, she creates a memorial history of the genocide against the Tutsi.

WORD.TRAVEL
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Fri, 20.10.2023 / 14:30 - 17:30
Afro-Asian Institute, Leechgasse 24, 8010 Graz.

A writing workshop with Abelina Holzer.

In this writing workshop we will embark on a journey into the world of memory. Where do we come from and how did we end up here? With various writing impulses, we will get to the bottom of our memories and perhaps discover hidden word treasures in the process. No special previous knowledge is necessary for the WORT.REISE. However, curiosity and a sense of adventure are advantageous.

WORD TRAVELING CHILDREN
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Sa., 21.10.2023, 4 p.m.
Forum Stadtpark, Stadtpark 1, 8010 Graz

Forget "Dwarf Nose" (Theater)

Event for children 8 years and older.
Director: Simon Windisch
The head kitchen master: Martin Brachvogel

Vegetables are cut with flying knives, sauces are stirred with a hundred revolutions, and window panes melt at that wonderful smell. And yet he is only the second best cook in the world. This dwarf, this little runt always manages to be two nose lengths ahead. A culinary tale about the courage it takes to be second best and about a cooking dwarf with an exceedingly long nose.