Literature for all

Editor Silvan Preisig

Follow Silvan

Texts open up worlds and in October the world of texts opens up in Zurich: a look through the magnifying glass at the anniversary programme of "Zürich liest".

If you happen to be passing by Sphères, the Salon des Rehböckli or the feminist strike house in Zurich in the week from 21 to 26 October, there's a good chance you'll run into one of the events organised by Zürich Liest. A total of 236 events are taking place at 114 different locations in Zurich. From workshops, talks, exhibitions and classic readings, everything is included. Many events are free of charge and are aimed at both literary connoisseurs and curious newcomers from young to old.

Focus on cultural appropriation

If you are interested in current debates on cultural appropriation, you should not miss the event My culture is not a costume. Nina Reuther, cultural scientist and mediator, shows in her text how ceremonial clothing and jewellery are coded in a complex way in the indigenous cultures of North America and are an expression of identity and history. She invites us to talk more consciously about cultural representations and discusses the implications of "white" appropriation.

Location: North America Native Museum
Time: Wed 22 Oct / 18:30 - 20:00

Nordamerika Native Museum NONAM

Zürich liest – My culture is not a costume

Warum bezeichnen Indigene «Indianer»-Kostüme als herabwürdigend? Für die einen harmlose Kindheitserinnerung und Karnevalspass, für die anderen ...

Between memory and the search for truth

The title of Olga Lakritz's new novel so öppis wie d wahrheit sets the tone for the text. The story is told from the perspective of a young woman whose boyfriend dies. His death raises questions. The left-wing activist milieu in which the narrator moves suspects the police. What did the first-person narrator realise about what happened? Her memories become blurred and she feels her way towards the truth in fragments. Narrated in dialect and with a great sense of tone and rhythm, the text makes an impressive leap from personal experience to social and political entanglements.
Moderation: Fatima Moumouni

Place: Even Theatre
Time: Thu 23 Oct / 19:00 - 20:00

Sogar Theater

so öppis wie d wahrheit

von Olga Lakritz.

Rap, rhyme and resistance

Rap was born as an expression of resistance against inequality, injustice and marginalisation. The art form - the meeting of words and beats - has its own rules and linguistic means. Two voices in Swiss rap, at different points in their careers, discuss the role of the "pen game" and other stylistic devices in rap. On the one hand, Soukey, the young Bernese rapper, who sometimes melancholically, often angrily, talks about the everyday life of a queer BIPoC. Opposite her: the rap veteran Gimma from Graubünden, who is known for provocative battle rap, but also repeatedly deals with his mental health and depression.
Moderation: Migmar Dolma

Location: Charlemagne
Time: Thu, 23 Oct / 20:00 - 21:45

Zürich liest

Pen Game & Protest: Rap als widerständige Kunstform. Mit Soukey und Gian-Marco «Gimma» Schmid

Rap als trotzige Kunstform: Ein Gespräch über Schreiben als Ausdruck von Widerstand, Empowerment und Erinnerung mit Soukey und Gimma.

Leif Randt and the soft realities

Leif Randt's novels are surrounded by a gentle cloud of relativisation. He himself says of his texts that they reflect "slightly sedated realities". In his latest work Let's Talk About Feelings, this reality is a glossed-over parallel world of our present. No wars, no Putin and Bernie Sanders instead of Trump. At the centre of it all is 41-year-old Marian Flanders, who runs a boutique in Berlin. When his mother dies, a year of transformation begins. In the linguistic guise of pop literature, we learn about fleeting love affairs, consumerism and the omnipresent feeling of being "fashionable". All this without indifferent nihilism, but with friendly equanimity. This position of the softly softly middle-aged man is quite refreshing in a time of huge male egos.
Moderation: Salomé Meier

Location: Karl der Grosse Zurich
Time: Fri 24 Oct / 18:00 - 19:30