Climate Change
Readings and discussion
Literaturhaus Graz

8.10., 18:00 and 19:30

Literaturhaus Graz
Elisabethstraße 30, 8010 Graz  ♿
www.literaturhaus-graz.at

In German

Tickets: 12/8 Euro per day (at box office only)
Tickets can be reserved at the latest by 16:00 on the day of the event at www.literaturhaus-graz.at.

→  Out of Joint. The literary festival within steirischer herbst

Climate change, mass extinctions, and resource scarcity are buzzwords in an intensifying global crisis scenario as our planet experiences an ongoing series of catastrophes. How can literature react to these crises in times of the “great derangement” (Amitav Gosh)? Is the global framework too vast for it to deal with? Are there forms of activism that might be interesting for literature? How can it translate enormous abstract questions and causalities that go far beyond the span of a human life into tangible concrete terms? During the first part of the evening we will address the connection between literature, law, and eco-activism as Kathrin Röggla speaks with Tanja Busse (Das Sterben der anderen). Röggla will then talk in the second part of the evening with Cécile Wajsbrot (Zerstörung, Wallstein 2020) and Monika Rinck, who is currently writing her Frankfurt lecture on poetics on the theme of “Literature and Prognostics/Prediction.” 

8.10., 18:00
Ein Klimatribunal, ein Artentribunal? (A climate tribunal, A species tribunal?)
Kathrin Röggla, Theater des Anthropozäns (reading)
Tanja Busse, Das Sterben der anderen (reading)
Discussion with Kathrin Röggla, Tanja Busse, and Eva Schulev-Steindl (ClimLaw: Graz) about literature, law, and ecological activism

8.10., 19:30
Dystopie und Nachhaltigkeit in der Literatur (Dystopia and Sustainability in Literature)
Cécile Wajsbrot, Zerstörung (reading)
Monika Rinck, Nachhaltigkeit und Vergeudung in der Literatur (statement)
Discussion with Kathrin Röggla, Cécile Wajsbrot, and Monika Rinck about the possibilities literature has in dealing with the current crises …

Bio

Kathrin Röggla (1971, Salzburg) lives in Berlin-Neukölln. She studied German language and literature and journalism in Salzburg and Berlin and writes prose, radio plays, and theatre texts. Austrian Art Prize for Literature in 2020. Vice President of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. Recent publications: Der Elefant im Raum (Academy of Arts 2019).

Tanja Busse (1970) studied journalism and philosophy and works as a moderator, author, and journalist with a focus on ecology and agriculture. Recent publications: Das Sterben der anderen. Wie wir die biologische Vielfalt noch retten können (Blessing 2019).

Monika Rinck (1969, Zweibrücken) studied religious studies, history, and comparative literature in Bochum, Berlin, and Yale, and lives in Berlin. She writes poetry, prose, and essays. Ernst Jandl Award in 2017. Recent publications: Wirksame Fiktionen. Poetik-Vorlesung (Wallstein 2019). 

Eva Schulev-Steindl is a professor at the Institute for Public Law and Political Science at the University of Graz and head of the research center for Climate and Environmental Law there (ClimLaw: Graz), part of the interdisciplinary profile Climate Change Graz. 

Cécile Wajsbrot (1954) is a novelist, essayist, and translator from English and German living in Paris and Berlin. Guest of the DAAD in Berlin in 2007, member of the German Academy for Language and Literature. She received the Prix de l’Académie de Berlin in 2016. Recent publications: Zerstörung (translated from the French by Anne Weber, Wallstein 2020).

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