Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin
ILB Blog: One for the books
As we wrap up this year's ILB, we reflect on our favorite moments and overall takeaways. more
ILB interview: Charlotte Wood
Fresh off her 2016 Stella Prize for her novel, The Natural Way of Things, Australian author Charlotte Wood talked to us about Berlin, feminism, and the immersive power of fiction writing. more
ILB interview: Madeleine Thien
Canadian author Madeleine Thien read from her award-winning book "Do Not Say We Have Nothing" last night at the Berliner Festspiele. We chatted with her beforehand about Berlin, history and how one should not look at China. more
ILB Interview: Edna O' Brien
We spoke to the grand dame of Irish letters, Edna O' Brien, who was at the lit fest yesterday presenting her novel "The Little Red Chairs", about influences on her work, the current state of literature and the "criminal act" of writing. more
ILB Author Spotlight: Aris Fioretos
Aris Fioretos' wide ranging and illustrious literary career spans Swedish, German and English poetry, prose and translation. He speaks about his essay "Die Dichte Welt", which reflects on the suicide of a friend on Sep 15 at 18:00. more
ILB Author Spotlight: Norman Ohler
After the publication of his controversial non-fiction book on drug use in the Third Reich, "Blitzed", German author Norman Ohler returns to his novelist roots with the launch of his latest novel "Die Gleichung des Lebens" (Sep 15, 21:00). more
ILB Author Spotlight: Madeleine Thien
Canadian author Madeleine Thien reads from her Man-Booker Prize-nominated latest novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing on September 14, 21:00 at Berliner Festspiele. more
The ILB Blog: Women on top at the Lit Fest
Tuesday night was ladies night, as we caught an ILB Special event on feminism featuring Singaporean author Amanda Lee Koe and the German/Indian journalist, cultural scientist and author Mithu Sanyal. more
ILB Interview: Xiaolu Guo
We caught up with internationally renowned author Xiaolu Guo at the International Literature Fest for a chat about language, filmmaking and the International Congress for Democracy at the ILB this weekend. more
© Hartwig Klappert
ILB author spotlight: Tim Parks
Author and translator Tim Parks presents his latest novel "Thomas and Mary: A Love Story" about the gradual decline of a 30 year marriage on Sep 14, 19:30 at Berliner Festspiele. more
ILB author spotlight: Amanda Lee Koe
Amanda Lee Koe discusses her first collection of short stories, "Ministry of Moral Panic", which explores the contemporary national identity of her native Singapore through a range of idiosyncratic characters and situations, on Sep 13 at 21:00. more
ILB author spotlight: Charlotte Wood
Australian author Charlotte Wood will read from her last prize-winning novel "The Natural Way of Things", which has been dubbed a "masterpiece of feminist horror" (Sep 13, 18:00). more
ILB author spotlight: Brian Castro
Hong Kong-born, Australian-based Brian Castro comes to lit fest with his latest novel "Blindess and Rage", a novel written in the unusual form of cantos, tracing the life of an Australian writer and town planner living in Paris. (Sep 13, 19:30). more
The ILB Blog: Rapping it up
The weekend ended with a bang – and some insults – as the International Congress for Democracy drew to a close. more
ILB author spotlight: Elnathan John
The Nigerian author, satirist and laywer launches his latest book "Born on a Tuesday", a bildungsroman which deals with the rise of radical Islam in northern Nigeria through the naïve, inquisitive eyes of its protagonist. (Sep 12, 18:00) more
ILB author spotlight: Nadifa Mohamed
Nadifa Mohamed reads from her latest novel "The Orchard of Lost Souls", in which she uses the family as a prism for big power machinations in Somalia (Sep 12, 21:00, Berliner Festspiele). more
The ILB Blog: Democracy rules
Saturday’s “Focus USA” panel, part of the International Congress for Democracy proceedings, was disappointingly homogenous in viewpoint, but the “A-Social Media" panel provided some lively debate. more
The ILB Blog: The refugees not here
Festival head Ulrich Schreiber and Syrian writer Khaled Khalifa share insight into their project Refugees Worldwide. The book of the same name will be launched on Sun, 18:00 at Buchhändlerkeller. more
The ILB Blog: Long, long night of democracy
The man of the hour was Edward Snowden, but many prominent writers and thinkers graced the ILB stage for the first day of the International Congress for Democracy. more
The ILB Blog: About a Roy
Literary darling and incendiary author Arundhati Roy returns to literature after 20 years with "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness". Our reporters were on the scene to witness her rapturous return. more