For those of us who don’t head back to school anymore in the fall, the annual Berlin International Literature Festival is a welcome intellectual pick-me-up after summer’s lazy lounging. The feast of over 100 readings and events is celebrating its twelfth year, with the usual bounty of amazing authors from around the world – this year’s crop includes Herta Müller, Liao Yiwu, Isabel Allende, Amir Hassan Cheheltan, Ha Jin, Kiran Nagarkar, Vladimir Sorokin, Gerhard Falkner, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Zeruya Shalev, Jonathan Meese, Durs Grünbein, Norbert Bisky, Bjarni Bjarnason and John Green. There’s also an excellent program for children and schoolkids. The main venue is the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, but events take place around the city, including the nearby Baxpax hostel on Oranienburger Strasse, within walking distance of the Miniloft apartments.
And check out this great historical guide to the Gendarmenmarkt area, a nice little extra courtesy of the Lit Fest.
International Literature Festival
Berliner Festspiele, Schaperstrasse 24, Charlottenburg
September 4-16, 2012
Garden © Hartwig Klappert