FALL DER MAUER 9. NOVEMBER 1989

Kafka's 'Metamorphosis' turns 100

Franz Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' turns 100 this year.

Read about it in The Guardian.

You can hear Benedict Cumberbatch read the novella for the BBC.

You can also download it in different ebook formats from Project Gutenberg.

Happy centennial!

Shakespeare & Company Bookstore in Paris

With a cameo appearance in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris and Richard Linklater's Before Sunset, Shakespeare and Company is arguably the most iconic bookshop in the French capital. The building, a 17th century ex-monastery has become a landmark in the 5th arrondissement. Apart from being a bookstore, it also serves as a haven where aspiring writers can stay for free - Allen Ginsberg and Anaïs Nin have both been guests in the past. Originally established in 1919 by an American called Sylvia Beach, fellow expatriate George Whitman took over Shakespeare and Company after Beach's death in 1951. Crane.tv meets with Whitman's daughter, Sylvia to hear about the future of this historical, literary gem. 
[from the YouTube info on the video]

Am 5. Oktober ist Schulanfang

Tod von Günter Grass

Der Schriftsteller Günter Grass ist im Alter von 87 Jahren gestorben.

Fans of 'Song of Ice and Fire' rejoice!

Fans of George RR Martin's 'Song of Ice and  Fire' will be over the moon. Not only is the new season of 'Game of Thrones' about to start on TV, but the author has just published an excerpt from the new volume of the saga, entitled 'The Winds of Winter'. It seems after all that he'll live long enough to conclude to complete the story!

Follow this link to read the excerpt.

This link takes you to a related short piece in The Guardian.

World Poetry Day

For World Poetry Day on March 21, a poem about the beginning of spring, and a curious link.

The Thrush

BY EDWARD THOMAS (1878-1917)

When Winter's ahead,

What can you read in November

That you read in April

When Winter's dead?

I hear the thrush, and I see

Him alone at the end of the lane

Near the bare poplar's tip,

Singing continuously.

Is it more that you know

Than that, even as in April,

So in November,

Winter is gone that must go?

Or is all your lore

Not to call November November,

And April April,

And Winter Winter—no more?

But I know the months all,

And their sweet names, April,

May and June and October,

As you call and call

I must remember

What died into April

And consider what will be born

Of a fair November;

And April I love for what

It was born of, and November

For what it will die in,

What they are and what they are not,

While you love what is kind,

What you can sing in

And love and forget in

All that's ahead and behind.

On World Poetry Day, pay for your coffee with a poem

World Book Day

Today is World Book Day in the UK and Ireland. The initiative comes from a charity of the same name to promote literacy and is aimed at students in nursery, primary and secondary school. It is celebrated every year on March 5.

There are activities like games, fund-raising and dressing up as a character like Wally. £1 book tokens are distributed which can be exchanged for a book in participating bookshops.

For more costume ideas follow this link.

World Book Night will be celebrated on April 23.

BERLINALE 2015

65. BERLINALE BEGINNT MIT "NOBODY WANTS THE NIGHT"

Die Berlinale hat angefangen.

Das Filmfestival in Berlin findet zum 65. Mal statt. Den Auftakt hat der Film "Nobody wants the Night" gemacht. Es geht um die Frau eines Arktis-Forschers Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die Berlinale dauert bis nächste Woche Sonntag. Es werden auch viele Hollywood-Stars erwartet, zum Beispiel Nicole Kidman und Helen Mirren.

https://www.berlinale.de/de/HomePage.html

Harper Lee to publish new novel, 55 years after To Kill a Mockingbird

The news has made headlines in all the major newspapers: Nelle Harper Lee, author of the beloved To Kill a Mockingbird, plans to publish a new novel in July. Go Set a Watchman will be her second one, 55 years after her masterpiece, though in fact it was written before Mockingbird but discarded.

The excitement in the media clearly shows how dearly loved her first and only novel is, the most recommended novel of all time. Published in 1960, Harper Lee won the Pulitzer Prize and would later be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature in 2007. To Kill a Mockingbird was adapted to the big screen in 1962, starring Gregory Peck, and won 3 Oscars. The story is written from the point of view of Scout, a little girl (and a bit of a tomboy), and describes life in a little town with his widowed father Atticus, a lawyer who defends a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman. There's not just anecdote but substance as the racial tension is vividly present.

In Go Set a Watchman Scout visits her father Atticus 20 years later.  It was recently rediscovered and after some hesitation the authoress found it worthy of publication. Will it live up to the expectations? We'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile you can read Mockingbird or watch the film: they are simply wondeful.

For more details, you can read the news in The Guardian or The New Yok Times.

Richard von Weizsäcker

Richard von Weizsäcker mit 94 Jahren gestorben

Der sechste Bundespräsident Deutschlands verstarb am 31.1. im Alter von 94. Zehn Jahre lang, von 1984 bis 1994, hatte er das höchste Amt im Staate inne. Für viele Deutsche war er der wohl populärste Bundespräsident.

Fotoaktion im Januar

Nachmittags auf einen Kaffee oder abends auf das eine oder andere Bier ... 

Wir wollen wissen, welcher Ort zu eurem zweiten Wohnzimmer geworden ist.

Zeigt es uns und gewinnt ein Buch aus dem Dudenverlag!

http://www.dw.de/fotoaktion-im-januar/a-18138960

Worst translations

Begin the year with a smile

Click to see slide show