inhabit the word

INHABIT THE WORD
80 years PEN Centre of German-Speaking Writers Abroad
at the Villa Aurora and USC’s Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies,
Los Angeles (June 26th - 30th, 2014)
... you can leave and yet stay
and inhabit the word
the word maybe of many tongues at once
but first and foremost the German word ...
(Hilde Domin)
Eighty years ago the German PEN-Club in Exile was founded in opposition to developments in Germany.
Before long it united all of the most important authors in exile, including Lion Feuchtwanger, Thomas Mann,
Bertold Brecht, Alfred Döblin, etc.
After the Second World War the “Exil-PEN” changed its name to PEN Centre of German-Speaking Writers
Abroad. To this day it represents authors who write in German but live abroad and are united in their efforts
on behalf of writers who are currently being persecuted.
To mark its anniversary, members of the PEN Centre will meet at the Villa Aurora and USC’s Max Kade
Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies, Los Angeles, from June 26th - 30th, 2014, for a series of public
lectures, talks, readings and discussions. We'll start publicizing the events soon.
PROGRAM – VILLA AURORA
(All contributions are in English unless otherwise stated)
28th June 2014, 2pm – 6pm
TALKS AND DISCUSSION
Welcome
By Margit Kleinman, Director of the Villa Aurora
80 Years of Exile
Keynote speech by Guy Stern
Presentation of Gehen und doch bleiben –
Autoren schreiben über Autoren
Anthology of the PEN Centre of GermanSpeaking Writers Abroad
By Gabrielle Alioth
Marta Feuchtwanger: At Home in America
A talk by Bernadette Conrad
Alfred Wolfenstein
A talk by Utz Rachowski
Kindertransport and the Loss of One’s Mother
Tongue
A talk by Renate Ahrens
The DNA of Predjudice: On the One and the
Many
A reading by Michael Eskin
W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants
A lecture by Claudia Becker
Writing in Many Tongues at Once
Discussion with Geertje Suhr Potash and Gerda
Nischan
Reception (at 6 pm)
Hosted by Jean-François Lichtenstern, General
Counsel of Switzerland
29th June 2014, 2 pm – 6 pm
READINGS
Members of the PEN Centre of GermanSpeaking Writers Abroad read from their work
Introduced by Gabrielle Alioth
Bernadette Conrad:
The Many Lives of Paula Fox
Egon Schwarz:
Warum ich keinen Roman geschrieben habe,
read by Irene Lindgren
(in German)
Gerda Nischan:
Reading from Letters to a Prisoner of War and
other works
Michael Eskin:
Reading Poems by Lajos Walder
Geertje Suhr Potash:
Brief an den Geheimrat Goethe, and some
Poems, Reading
(in German and English)
Utz Rachwoski: Reading from his work
Renate Ahrens:
Ernst Toller – Eine Beunruhigung(in German)
Claudia Becker:
Reading from her works
(in German)
Gino Leineweber:
Reading from his works
Gabrielle Alioth:
Emigrating from Switzerland; a personal view
PR
ROGRAM – MAX KAD
DE INSTITU
UTE
(All contribu
utions are in
n English un
nless otherw
wise stated)
26th June 2014, 7 pm
m
30th June 2014, 7 pm
"AMERICA
AN TRACE
ES IN CONT
TEMPORAR
RY
LITERATU
URE IN GER
RMAN"
GRANTS"
"EMIGRATION AND EMIG
Michael Eskin:
Welc
come by Je
ean-Françoiis Lichtenstern,
Cons
sul Generall of Switzerlland
C
ry Literature
e in
American Traces in Contempora
German
Gabrielle Alioth:
A
Gabrielle Alioth:
American Traces in Contempora
C
ry Swiss
Literature
Intro
oduction and
d Reading ffrom: Emigrrated –
Swis
ss Emigrantts through 7 Centuries
Renate Ah
hrens:
Gino
o Leineweb
ber:
A Mixture of
o Languag
ge: German--English
Children’s Books
Expllorers, Settle
ers – Franccisco Pizarro
o and
others
Bernadettte Conrad:
Rena
ate Ahrens
s:
The Percep
ption of Am
merican Writters in
Germany
Pres
sentation an
nd Reading from: Stefa
an Zweig –
On th
he Thresho
old
To be follo
owed by a discussion.
b followed by
b a discusssion.
To be
For their ge
enerous support we thank:
and our sponsor: •
Villa
a Aurora, 520 Pa
aseo Miramar, Pacific
P
Palisade
es, CA 90272, Telephone: 310 454
4 42 31, [email protected]
•
Maxx Kade Institute for Austrian-Ge
erman-Swiss Stu
udies, University
y of Southern California,
C
2714 S
S. Hoover Stree
et,
Los Angeles CA 90007, Telephone
e: 213 743 2707
7, [email protected]
du