Blabbering on...
Here's an overview of the lectures, reading sessions, exhibitions and interviews I've done over the last few years. Plus other stuff that I feel passionate about.
Early 2023
Holding the Heathen Hammer High.
The winter of 2022/2023 was not a good time for me. Over the course of six months, I lost several people who were very dear to me, and also my beloved bunny Fuchsi. So I did what any sensible person would do, I turned to my trusted heavy metal tunes to make me feel better. Songs I had known for almost a life-time. But why not give other bands a chance too? I wanted to look forward, not back, and decided to check out every month three new bands, chosen at random from different "flavours" of Heavy Metal. Thus I got to know Asking Alexandria (not bad, some good songs), Saxon (old, but new to me, unfortunately they did sound pretty old to my ears), Dimmur Borgir (I love the music, the growling not so much), Faith No More (no, not my thing at all), Slayer (much more up my alley) and Týr. The "Viking metal" band from the Faroe Islands...
The first Týr song I listened to was The Lay of Our Love which did nothing for me. I rarely like duets between male and female singers, it's just not my thing. Then came We Ride, Hold the Heathen Hammer High, Dreams, Mare of My Night, Sinklarsvisa. I downloaded more songs. Two weeks later, I aborted my get-to-know-new-metal-bands project, bought Týr's entire back catalogue and listened only to them for the next six months. I had entered a hitherto unknown realm, discovered a new musical home, my heart strings resonating in tune with the beat of the drums, the bass, the guitar and Heri's powerful voice. I had found my favourite band for the 2020s. Half a year later, in August 2023, I saw them live on Midgardsblot in Norway and was even able to talk to the drummer for a few minutes. Thank you, guys, for every moment of energy and life-affirming happiness that your music is giving me! To say it with the immortal words of Tom Keifer: "As long as I have rock'n roll, I'm forever young." Or, as Valkyrja tells us: "And remember, when all hope you feel is gone, that the darkest hour comes just before the dawn."
Autumn 2022
A road trip to the Near East.
In late September 2022, I took off for my longest road trip yet: six weeks, on my own, all the way to Turkey and Iran, where I wanted to visit my friend Elma from Shiraz. Unfortunately, this was about the time when mass protests shook the country. Everybody I met on the way told me not to go visit just now. When I was on Lake Van, I finally folded and decided to postpone my visit to Iran and instead explore Eastern Turkey and Armenia some more. It was a wonderful holiday, I met so many amazing people, but so far, I've been too lazy to turn it into a travel blog. Hopefully next year. And I do still want to go to Iran. If only it was not so far away.
June 2022
Learning Chinese.
Aside from cover designs, I had taken up another hobby around the same time: learning Chinese. The material can all be found for free online, which was quite a refreshing thing compared to the OU's rather large fees. Standard Chinese, or Putonghua, is a fascinating language and a lot easier than I had imagined. In June 2022, I passed the first level of the official
Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi with flying colours and promptly lost interest in persuing the language any further. In late 2023, I took it up again and, who knows, maybe one day I'll visit China and see if anyone will be able to make head or tail out of my babbling.
March 2022
Cover designs for Librivox.org
With the Sarya homepage up and running and the Lawson book printed, I needed a new outlet for my Affinity Publisher skills. That's how I found a new hobby, namely designing covers for audiobook recordings. My sister is very active on the amazing free audiobook site
Librivox.org, and I sometimes lend them my voice as well. It's great fun to come up with a visual for the recordings, do check them out in the
Cover design section.
February 2022
I had spend some months in 2021 translating about a dozen poems of the Australian author Henry Lawson into Luxembourgish. The project had begun as a "might as well find something intellectually stimulating to do" idea, not unlike Henry Winter's translation of Paradise Lost into Latin. That done, I wanted to publish the poems in book form. I don't like working with other publishers, as our interests in a project rarely if ever align. And I'd always dreamt of having my own little company, so why not a small publishing house? In late 2021, I thus got Éditions Sarya (Éditions is the French word for publishing house, Sarya the Russian word for the twilight hour between day and night) registered and, a month later, Eppes Besseres / Something Better became the first (and so far only) book published here.
I also designed and launched a website for
Éditions Sarya, do check it out, if you like. I'm great at getting new things off the ground, but tend to lose interest pretty fast too, so I'm not sure if this project will be taken any further. It might, you never know. Time will tell.
In any case, you can also read the poems in both English and Luxembourgish translation right
here on my site, complete with a recorded audio version. if you would like to have a printed copy of the book, just shoot me a message.
14.12.2020
The Russian song project Our home is Earth.
Georgy Malinovsky, an artist from Moscow, asked me to write a song for him in English, and, while I was at it, to please translate it into German and French. I was happy to oblige and so the anti-fear and anti-border song Наш дом - Земля (Our home is Earth) came to be. To promote the project, Georgy and the singer Alisa Voks gave a lengthy interview about it on Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, one of the major radio stations in Moscow. I was dead chuffed when I listened to it and heard my name mentioned with the epithet "poetessa iz Luxemburga". Unfortunately, until now the French and German versions are still waiting to be recorded, but let's hope that this will change in the future. Until then, the only existing versions are my German and French demo tapes for Georgy, and I don't think I will put those on the internet just yet. :)
Here you can listen to the interview (in Russian)
on Radio Komsomolskaya's website.
July 2020
Exhibition: Luxemburgish literary life and World War II. Centre national de littérature, Mersch, Luxembourg.
After three years of intense work, the launching of our new exhibition on literature and World War II was something on a non-event. Nevertheless I am very proud of the end result, and I think so are my co-curators Claude D. Conter, Daniela Lieb, Josiane Weber, Jeff Schmitz and Marc Limpach. For more info about the (humongous) catalogue,
see here. The exhibition was unfortunately cancelled prematurely due to a pretty devastating flood that destroyed a part of our archives.
March/April 2020
By the end of March 2020, Covid-19 had reached Luxembourg and our governement responded, like a lot of politicians all over the world, by ordering the most drastic measures to be taken. The first time since Luxembourg had shaken off the fascist invaders in 1944, Luxembourgers were deprived of their citizens' rights and "emergency law" was installed. Orders changed every day and, instead of making people more resilient, they wore children, parents, ill and old people physically and psychologically down. By the end of March, there was no more doubt that this would become a lot worse before it would get, hopefully, better. So I launched a website called coronaliterature.org, to give authors a platform to voice their concerns. It took me about a week to set up the site, and on April 3, 2020, the first poem went online.
A big thanks to all the authors who contributed, and an especially warm and heartfelt thank-you to poet and journalist Jean-Michel Klopp, who went beyond anything I ever expected to promote the site. At first I was determined to keep the project active until the government lifted all alleged "Covid-19" measures, but after a while I became wary of fighting the mass hysteria and accusations of murdering dear old ladies by daring to ponder the new virus in a level-headed way. So for now, the project is put on hold, to be resuccitated some day in the future or, much better yet, to be archived because the craze is finally over.
Here's an article in the Luxembourgish daily newspaper Tageblatt to promote the site (in German):
Page 1 and
Page 2.
26.02.2020
Luxembourg's Many Voices. Luxembourg Embassy, London, UK.
Nathalie Jacoby from Blackfountain Press organised a wonderful evening at the Luxembourg Embassy in London. There was an
interview with her in the Luxemburger Wort to promote the event. The evening was a great success. After a short overview on Luxembourg literature in general, three Luxembourgish authors read from their works: Anne-Marie Reuter, Jeff Schincker and myself. I chose excerpts from Rights of Spring and Your Heart of Ice is Hot As Vice. The room was filled to the brim and we were delighted about the interest for our national literature in the expat community. The beautiful pictures below were taken by Timothy Lone. A big thank-you to ambassador Jean Olinger and his wife Véronique for this unforgettable evening.
October 2019
Mathematics and Physics. Open University, UK.
Spurred on by the delightful introductory physics course that I had just passed successfully, I enrolled in the Open University's introductory mathematics module MST124. This too proved more than satisfying until March 2020, when I fell ill for several weeks and, more or less simultaneously, launched my new website
coronaliterature.org. Setting up a new website takes a lot of time, and so my maths studies were put on the backburner. I nevertheless managed to successfully pass the course in June and moved on to the next module MST125 in October 2020, which I also passed with a distinction nine months later. Kudos to the OU for providing such excellent studying materials! After that, my burning desire to learn mathematics and physics was somewhat quenched (not least due to the university's not-too-small fees) and so my OU studies are put on ice, most likely indefinitely.
25.-28.09.2019
Convention Buchenwald in Europa. Goethe-Schiller-Archiv, Weimar, Germany.
I attended an international convention on the literature about the concentration camp Buchenwald in Thuringia, organized by Stefan Pabst from the University of Jena. I contributed with a presentation of the KZ in Luxembourg literature in the late 1940s. It was interesting to meet researchers from all over Europe and to actually visit the camp, but I (and several other researchers) was taken aback when we saw that in the new exhibition, the role of the communists in the Lager had been all but wiped out. Quite an astonishing rewriting of history.
08.05.2019
Reading Reality Check. Class 7e. Lycée Robert-Schuman. Luxembourg.
Like every year, I visited a class of 7th graders to tell them about my work as an author, translator and literary researcher. I hope we can uphold this tradition for many years to come.
January 2019
Undergraduate physics course. Open University, UK.
As I am of the opinion that life becomes boring if you keep doing the same thing, I decided to throw myself into something completely new: undergraduate physics. Actually, it wasn't all that new to me, as I have been an avid reader of the New Scientist magazine since around 2002, but undergraduate physics is still a different ballgame. It was hugely fascinating and I loved every minute of the course. In September 2019, I passed with a distinction and immediately enrolled into the next module...
20.12.2018
Reading Circle. University of Luxembourg. Belval.
Anne-Marie Millim and Agnès Prüm of the University of Luxembourg host a Reading Circle for students interested in English-language literature from Luxembourg. In December 2018, I was invited to read from A Winter Tale and Rights of Spring, together with poet Dillan Harris. I adored the wonderful feedback from the students!
21.11.2018
Fresh from the Fountain. Poetry evening at the British Embassy, Luxembourg.
To launch the publication of their first anthology, English-language publishing house Blackfountain Press organised a poetry reading at the British Embassy in Luxembourg City. I had contributed to the anthology with a short story on the dangers of postponing for too long the things that are really important in life. It was a wonderful evening and I met a lot of new authors. Luxembourg may be tiny, but it feels like we have more poets per capita as any other place in the world!
03.11.2018
Workshop "Second World War" at the University of Luxembourg, Esch/Belval.
And another workshop at the University of Luxembourg, this time in the National History department. Sonja Kmec asked me to present my research on Luxembourg literature during WW2. I had been working on this subject for a year for our next exhibition, so I was more than happy to oblige.
31.10.2018
Workshop "Translation" at the University of Luxembourg, Esch/Belval.
Anne-Marie Millim from the University of Luxembourg invited me to her class on Translation from and into Luxembourgish. The students were very thorough and motivated and it was clear that the next generation of Luxembourg literary translators will make our country proud.
30.05.2018
Lecture on Nicolas Gonner's Prairieblummen. Treff Al Schoul, Hobscheid, Luxembourg.
The second instalment of lectures in the club senior in Hobscheid, this time about the Luxembourg emigrants to the Midwest and the poems they wrote their about the life, their hopes and reminiscences of Luxembourg. Once more, it was a very enjoyable afternoon.
18.05.2018
Reading Reality Check. Class 7e. Lycée Robert-Schuman. Luxembourg.
It has become a tradition: I was again invited by Luxembourg language teacher Carole Capus to read my short story in front of a group of 7th graders. Again, we talked about 80s rock bands, Sophie Marceau in the movie La Boum, and about what life was like when I was the students' age. We also found time to delve into my Prairieblummen book and read a poem on the life of the 19th century Luxembourg emigrants to the Midwest. All in all, a wonderful morning. Maybe I should have become a teacher after all.
28.03.2018
Lecture on Marie-Louise Tidick-Ulveling's Im Zeichen der Flamme. Treff Al Schoul, Hobscheid, Luxembourg.
It had been a while since I had last given a lecture and reading session on Marie-Louise Tidick-Ulveling's wonderful novel about former (and modern) witch-hunts in Luxembourg. I was happy present the book to the senior-club Treff Al Schoul in the neighbouring village from where I grew up. It was a wonderful afternoon. Mental note: Should do this more often.
26.01.2018
Radio interview on article about Fernand Karier. Radio 100,7.
I had researched the early writings of the Luxembourgish teacher and author Fernand Karier for an article to be published in the literary magazine Galerie. On publication, Valerija Berdi of radio station 100,7 was kind enough to run a feature, including a short interview with me, on the article.
Summer 2017
Couchsurfing and Tinder, Luxembourg.
This was the year that I discovered the social benefits of Couchsurfing and Tinder. Luxembourg is, after all, the heart of Europe (doesn't every patriot from Amsterdam to Zagreb think this of their country?) and so, naturally, you get to meet a lot of travellers, if you only look for them. I was delighted to host young (and not so young) tourists from Turkey and Latvia to India and even from as far away as Australia. I showed them the old city, the castle of Vianden, the one and only Schengen (of EU-visa fame) and the fun fair Schueberfouer. I had as much fun exploring my own country as my guests.
26.06.2017
Vernissage of the exhibition Aufbewahrt! Das literarische Leben in Selbstzeugnissen, Dokumenten und Objekten. Centre national de littérature, Mersch, Luxembourg.
Our latest exhibition showcased objects from our archives that bring an author's works and thoughts to life. I collaborated with an introduction to Jules Leffort's travel literature, complete with souvenirs from Russia, like a statue and samovar, gifts from Russian authors to their Luxembourgish friend. The former director of the Mouselsbrauerei (the most famous beer brewery in Luxembourg) was one of the first Luxembourgers to visit Russia in the 1930s and to write about it. It made for very interesting reading and got me to dream about one day exploring Russia in greater detail, too. You can read the article
here.
13.06.2017
I was dead chuffed when Jennifer Rankin from the British newspaper The Guardian asked me for an interview on Luxembourg literature. I had been reading her articles for years, so I was understandly thrilled to see my two-cents-worth in the online version of the paper. The phone interview lasted for over an hour and we got along really well. Unfortunately, when the article finally came online a few months later, there was very little from the interview that I recognized. I'm not saying that she misconstrued my words on purpose, which I'm sure she didn't, just that she put a very different emphasis on things. That was a bit of a let-down, but at least I got my name into the Guardian, which helped me realise that it's not as huge a deal as I had previously thought. Jennifer was kind enough to include Serge Tonnar's music video, so I'm really grateful to her for that as well.
09./10.06.2017
Mapping English in Luxembourg. University of Luxembourg, Esch/Belval.
An interdisciplinary conference organised by the University of Luxembourg about all things anglophone in Luxembourg. I presented my research on English-speaking literature in Luxembourg, the first comprehensive study of that part of our national literary heritage. The paper was published the following year in the yearbook of the National Literary Archives in Mersch, Trouvailles 2016/2017. You can read the article
here.
05.05.2017
Colloquium on Luxembourg literature. University of Sheffield, UK.
Kristine Horner, the director of the Centre for Luxembourg Studies at Sheffield University, invited me to give a lecture on Luxembourg literature in English entitled "The first question is always: In what language should I write" - Reflections on Contemporary Luxembourg Literature", as well as a presentation of my translation of Guy Rewenig's satirical texts Your Heart of Ice is Hot As Vice. I had a wonderful two days in Sheffield and was enormously impressed by the level of Luxembourgish of these British undergraduate students!
06.04.2017
Do you speak English? A literary evening... in English. Centre national de littérature, Mersch, Luxembourg.
To celebrate the launch of Luxembourg's first English-language publishing house, my workplace organised a literary evening with authors from Luxembourg that write in English. Nathalie Jacoby from Blackfountain Press MCed the evening. She interviewed four authors (James Leader, Anne-Marie Reuter, Jeff Thill and myself) and we got to read from our works. I read excerpts from Rights of Spring and Your Heart of Ice is Hot As Vice.
Book launch at Chapter 1. Howald, Luxembourg.
I was eager to present my translation of Guy Rewenig's work Your Heart of Ice is Hot as Vice in the English bookstore Chapter 1 in Howald. It turned out to be a great evening. I led through the event, reading texts and introducing Guy Rewenig's work to the audience. Guy was happy to answer questions in English, even though he tried to pretend that his English wasn't good enough, but of course it was. We had a terrific Irish band, entertaining us with folk songs, curtesy of my friend Terry Adams. Thank you for the amazing performance, Terry, Terry O'Brien and Joe Rooney! During the second part of evening, the mayor of Hesperange, Marc Lies, joined me to read some love dialogues with me. We had a lot of fun. And the highlight of the evening, in my opinion, was the "sparring match" between me and Änder Millim, a retired English teacher and old school friend of Guy Rewenig. We read Stonewalling, or The Rules of Escalation together, a none-too-polite word-fight between two quarrelsome neighbours. I loved it! A big thank you for everyone who attended the evening and made it special.
11.10.2016
Reading Reality Check. Class 7e 2. Lycée Robert-Schuman. Luxembourg.
Like last year, I was invited by Luxembourg language teacher Carole Capus to read my short story in front of a group of 7th graders. Again, we talked about 80s rock bands, Sophie Marceau in the movie La Boum, and I was amazed how eager the students were to participate. That's not how I remember my school days! I loved it, and I hope to be back next year. Unfortunately, we forgot to take a class picture this time around.
31.03.2016
Guided tour of the Centre national de littérature. Mersch, Luxembourg.
Learning French in the safe environment of a classroom is a lot more boring than going out in the world and actually talking. So I offered my students from the refugee camp to have a look around my workplace and get to know something about Luxembourgish literature. We all enjoyed the afternoon out. From left to right: Ibrahim Hassan, Kasem Alasli, me, Mohammad Jassem, Mario Khalouf, Marwan Almajed and my ever obliging boss, Claude D. Conter.
05.02.2016
Radio broadcast. "Visite guidée" [Guided tour] with Valerija Berdi. Radio 100,7.
A guided audiotour through our exhibition Korrekturspuren. There were five short parts broadcasted over the course of a few weeks, each featuring one exhibition hall. As one of the curators, I was happy to give explanations (in Luxembourgish) about my exhibits on Emile Schaus's work. The broadcast takes about 7 minutes.
January 2016
Serge Tonnar: Mir wëllen iech ons Heemecht weisen. Music video.
My first ever appearance in a music video! Luxembourg singer/singwriter Serge Tonnar shot a video for his pro-emigration song Mir wëllen iech ons Heemecht weisen [we want to show you our home country]. Together with my erstwhile significant other Rami and some of our friends from Syria and Iraq, we travelled by train to the North of Luxembourg and performed a dance in the central train station. It was so much fun. Definitely want to do something like that again. You can watch the
video on Youtube. I make a few brief appearances in 0:23 (in the back, to the right), 2:52, 3:30 and 3:50. Below you see one of our training sessions for the choreography and to the right me with our instructor, the amazing dance pro Sylvia Camarda.
December 2015-May 2016
French classes for refugees. Centre de logopédie, Strassen, Luxembourg.
In 2015, the country of Luxembourg took in a considerable number of refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of them were lodged in an old school house not far from where I live. Curious to meet my new fellow residents, I visited their lodgings and struck up a friendship with a teacher from Mossul in northern Iraq. In December 2015, I started to give French classes for her and her family and friends, first at my home, until I was allocated a classroom in their camp in Strassen. This spontaneous idea developped into two fully booked classes, each twice a week. I made some lasting friendships and I think we all had a lot of fun, bemoaning together the tongue-twisting intricacies of the French language. During the early summer months, we took the class outside to the park and complemented it with some mate and a shisha. Has teaching ever been more rewarding! Below, you see some of my students. For some reason, they got it into their head that it was my birthday, so we celebrated with cake and coke, even though it wasn't. LOL So nice.
Vernissage of the exhibition Korrekturspuren - Textmetamorphosen. Centre national de littérature, Mersch, Luxembourg.
In October 20015, the Literary Archives celebrated their 20th anniversary. In style, with a yummy chocolate birthday cake, of course. We combined this event with the vernissage of our latest exhibition about the evolution of a text from rough sketch to manuscript to published book. I contributed with a study on Emile Schaus' novel Lisa Timesch and on the opening night, I presented this work, which took the author 40 years to complete, to our guests. Read more about the article in our exhibition catalogue
here.
08.10.2015
Reading Reality Check. Class 7e 3. Lycée Robert-Schuman. Luxembourg.
It was great fun reading my short story to a group of 7th graders. We talked about rock bands in the 1980s and the movie La Boum, all of which play a role in the story. I was really happy at the class' eagerness to participate. Almost makes you want to become a teacher. A big thanks to Carole Capus for inviting me into her class and for taking the picture. I almost disappear amid the students. Can you spot the author?
09.06.2015
Diploma Ceremony and Pushkin Evening. Centre culturel et scientifique de Russie, Luxembourg.
I passed the Russian A2 test! The students were awarded their diplomas during an evening celebrating the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Two descendants of Pushkin living in France and who were incidentally married to each other told the audience about their famous ancestor and later handed us our diplomas. Unfortunately, no one took a picture of me, but here you see a classmate of mine getting his diploma.
20.04.2015
Reading session to promote the new school anthology Lies de bal. LiteraTour, Bettembourg, Luxembourg.
Yet another occasion to promote the anthology. By now I almost know my short story by heart. LOL It was a fun evening, the setting in the old castle was beautiful and a lot of people showed up for the reading.
10.01.2015
Russian New Year celebration. Centre culturel et scientifique de Russie, Luxembourg.
Our Russian language class did a sketch during the New Year festivities at the Russian Cultural Centre in Luxembourg. I even got to sing a few lines from Я свободен (I'm free) by Valery Kipelov. It was great fun, even though sadly no one bothered to take a picture of it. But as you can see from the other photos, it was all very lively and enjoyable. There was an amazing group of performers from Russia who animated us to get involved in some traditional Russian games, and we even had a blind tasting contest, our class A2 against the beginners' class A1. Richard (right) from our class won! To the left and right are our wonderful teachers Olga and Tatjana.
15.11.2014
Reading session to promote the new school anthology Lies de bal. Walfer Bicherdeeg, Walferdange, Luxembourg.
The reading took place in an old bus parked on the fair grounds. I read my Luxembourgish short story about
karaoke, which had been included in the new anthology for Luxembourgish highschools. Later, the authors were available to sign the books, here you see (from left to right) Christiane Ehlinger, Georges Kieffer, Tullio Forgiarini and myself.
21.03.2014
I had been invited to speak at the 4th Luxembourg Archivists' Day in Luxembourg City. This year, the general topic was personal data protection. My paper was about Rosemarie Kieffer's will, which I had stumbled upon only weeks before in our archives. At the time, I was quite interested in this author's work, so it was both interesting and disconcerting to find out about her wishes concerning her manuscripts and letters. At the archivists' day, I spoke in Luxembourgish, but the final draft was published in German. You can read it right
here.
28.11.2013
Vernissage of the exhibition Widmungsbücher / Livres dédicacés. Centre national de littérature, Mersch, Luxembourg.
This was the opening night of our new exhibition, which featured the history of 37 books personally signed by the authors and dedicated to friends or acquaintances. As one of the curators, I presented Fernand Hoffmann's mysterious Latin dedication to the visitors.
04.02.2013
Reading session with Pernilla Linder. Centre national de littérature, Mersch, Luxembourg.
The Danderys Gymnasium from Stockholm, Sweden, was on visit in the Luxembourgish Lycée Michel Rodange. During their stay, they also visited the Literary Archives. We organised a tour around our institute, and rounded the day off with a reading session by Pernilla Linder. This is a Swedish author who has been living in Luxembourg for many years. She read an excerpt from her novel Schwarze Wasser [Black Water] in Swedish, and I read the same part in the German translation. Below, you see Pernilla in a photograph by Philippe Matsas, and the Swedish class visiting the EU-monument in Schengen.
07.11.2012
Roger Manderscheid - stille tage in luxemburg. Cinémathèque Luxembourg.
This was a cooperation between the Cinémathèque and my employer, the Centre national de littérature. We showed three movies: stille tage in luxemburg, which was discussed very controversially when it was first shown on German TV in 1973, and two little known short films on Roger Manderscheid, by the German director Georg Bense. My colleague Pascal Seil had organized the evening. I read two texts - an excerpt from Manderscheid's book Dromedare and a letter in which Manderscheid reflects on the 'scandal' that his film produced. The evening, and especially the interview with director Georg Bense, was quite a success.
06.07.2012
RTL radio interview. "Freides Invité" [Friday's guest] with Christiane Kremer.
A thirty-minute interview on living in the States, getting a highschool diploma through evening classes and travels in the Balkans. We also spoke about the latest exhibition at my workplace and of course my new novel, Rights of Spring.
23.06.2012
Radio broadcast. "Visite guidée" [Guided tour] with Claude Mangen. Radio 100,7.
A guided audiotour through the exhibition "Satirische Literatur in Luxemburg" with explanations by curators Claude D. Conter, Sandra Schmit and Pascal Seil. Each of us guided through a different exhibition hall. My commentary (in Luxembourgish) is about Satire and the Church and starts 7:10 minutes into the broadcast. The whole tour takes about one hour.
23.05.2012
Vernissage of the exhibition Satirische Literatur in Luxemburg. Centre national de littérature, Mersch, Luxembourg.
On the opening night of Satirische Literatur in Luxemburg, our new director Claude D. Conter gave an introductory speech to the exhibition, while actor Steve Karier read excerpts from satirical texts. True to the subject of the evening, there was lots of laughing and good humour. Before proceeding to the wine and canapés, my fellow curators Claude D. Conter and Pascal Seil and I led the guests through the exhibtion halls.
03.02.2012
Reading A Winter Tale. Classes 2e A and 2e D. Lycée Robert-Schuman. Luxembourg.
I read a few excerpts from A Winter Tale to the students and discussed my work as an author and in the literary archives with them. To round it off, they listened to the emigrants' song Zur Erënneronk and to the short story Reality Check. I enjoyed the morning very much. Thanks to Georges Kieffer for organizing it, Nicole Deviscour for taking such great pictures and Martine Richard for "lending" me her class. And a major thank you of course to the students for their interest.
14.12.2011
Lecture on Marie-Louise Tidick-Ulveling's Im Zeichen der Flamme. Club Senior, Centre Barblé, Strassen, Luxembourg.
03.10.2011
Lecture on Marie-Louise Tidick-Ulveling's Im Zeichen der Flamme. Haus Am Becheler, Walferdange, Luxembourg.
Another wonderful evening at the Becheler. It's always a pleasure to be there. The lecture was essentially the same one that I gave a few months ago at the Centre national de littérature in Mersch.
30.04.2011
The broadcast about my second reedition in the Lëtzebuerger Bibliothéik series. Like the one two weeks earlier, it's in Luxembourgish and lasts about twenty-five minutes. Again, it's a condensed version of my lecture in March 2011. On my request, the radio station played Subway to Sally's Die Hexe, very fitting for a novel about 17th century witch hunts. Asche zu Asche might have been even more fitting, but I didn't think I could propose two Rammstein songs in a row. ;)
16.04.2011
Radio broadcast about Nicolas Gonner's Prairieblummen. Radio 100,7.
In 2010/2011, the cultural radio station 100,7 did a series of features about the publications of the Centre national de littérature where I work. The series was called Lëtzebuerger Bibliothéik. The two books I authored where number 15 and 16 in the series. Click on the link to listen to the broadcast in Luxembourgish. It lasts about twenty minutes and it's basically a shortened version of my lecture in November 2008.
The radio station asked me to propose a song to end the broadcast, and I suggested Amerika by Rammstein, as the song nicely counter-balances Gonner's sometimes over-enthusiastic view of his adopted country.
08.03.2011
Lecture on Marie-Louise Tidick-Ulveling's Im Zeichen der Flamme. Centre national de littérature, Mersch, Luxembourg.
At this event, I presented the newly-reedited novel Im Zeichen der Flamme, which is set in 17th century Luxembourg during the time of the witch hunts. Like all things gory of ages past, the subject delighted the audience. Judging from the echoes I received, the torture scene in particular was kept in fond memory.
14.12.2010
Lecture on Nicolas Gonner's Prairieblummen. Literaturarchiv Saar-Lor-Lux-Elsass. Saarbrücken-Dudweiler. Germany.
Yet again the Prairieblummen lecture, but this time in German in front of a German audience. The challenges were a bit different, as one cannot simply assume that the Germans know the Luxembourgish towns and events that are referenced. This forced me to see the book in a slightly different light, so the evening was just as rewarding for myself as for the audience.
20.11.2010
Reading session Reality Check at the Walfer Bicherdeeg. Walferdange, Luxembourg.
Several authors were asked to read their contribution to the Walfer Bicherdeeg anthology in public. My short story was about karaoke, so it gave me the opportunity to bawl out a line from a Europe song, shyly whisper a verse from Abba and pay hommage to Queen with a happy Friends will be Friends. Unfortunately, the reading session was not recorded, but you can read the short story if you click
here. [in Luxembourgish]
IVG Internationaler Germanistenkongress. Warsaw, Poland.
I presented a paper on Gonner's Prairieblummen (yet again) at the Luxembourgish section of this congress. This was the first congress I attended as a speaker, and I enjoyed the experience. Of course, I already knew a lot of the people from Luxembourg. It was my first time in Poland as well, and I must say, I'm glad they're working on their highways. Poland IS a large country. But it's beautiful, and Warsaw was well worth the trip. The contributions were later published, and you can read the article
here.
19.03.2010
Prairieblummen. Class 3e BC1. Lycée Robert-Schuman Luxembourg.
I presented the works of Gonner and Co at a local highschool. The students were especially interested in the topic of emigration.
03.03.2010
Not for ladies only. Brasserie Neimünster. Luxembourg.
Three authors published by ultimomondo were taking part in this reading session organised for the Tour de Lüx: Michèle Thoma, Tania Naskandy and myself. Naskandy, who later that year revealed herself to be none other than Guy Rewenig, was notably absent that evening and her texts were read by Pat Wengler (right).
14.12.2009
Journée de la littérature luxembourgeoise. Lycée de garçons Luxembourg.
A local highschool invited several Luxembourgish authors to talk with the students about what it is like to be a writer. I enjoyed the two hours in "my" class very much. Click on the link above to find out more about this event. [in French, site hosted by the Lycée de garçons]
05.11.2009
Reading session A Winter Tale. Elfenbein Literaturhandlung. Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg.
This was a very enjoyable evening at the Elfenbein book store in Prenzlauer Berg. The owner of the book store, Ingo Držečnik, had organized a "Luxembourgish evening" with author Guy Rewenig, jazz musician Jitz Jeitz and myself. The Germans seemed to like the literature and music from their next-door neighbours just as much as the culinary specialties offered by "De Maufel", a Luxembourgish delicatessen in Charlottenburg. Incidentally, this was the only reading session of the "Tour de Lüx" that took place outside of Luxembourg.
29.10.2009
Reading session A Winter Tale. Kulturfabrik. Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg.
My first public reading of one of my literary works! I felt a lot more vulnerable reading my own work, instead of someone else's poetry or prose. The evening was part of the "Tour de Lüx", the tenth anniversary of the publishing house ultimomondo. There were five authors reading from their latest books (namely Guy Rewenig, Lucien Blau, Jean Back, Roger Manderscheid and myself) and an exhibition by satirical magazine Den neie Feierkrop's caricaturist Guy W. Stoos. The evening was recorded by film directors Tom Alesch and Anne Schiltz. Click on
this link to see and hear part of my reading.
12.10.2009
Lecture on Nicolas Gonner's Prairieblummen. Haus Am Becheler, Walferdange, Luxembourg.
Here I had the opportunity to give my lecture on Gonner's Prairieblummen yet again in front of an interested audience.
14.05.2009
Reading session based on Nicolas Gonner's Prairieblummen. Club Senior, Centre Barblé, Strassen, Luxembourg.
This was part of an "American day" at the Club Senior in Strassen. I read excerpts from the Prairieblummen and gave some background information on the emigration of Luxembourgers to the US in the 19th century. To round the day off, we all had lunch at the local McDonald's and later visited the American Embassy.
10.04.2009
Radio interview about A Winter Tale. Radio 100,7.
This was a very pleasant interview with Olivier Del Fabbro about my novel. It's in Luxembourgish and takes about 20 minutes. It was broadcast on the Luxembourgish cultural radio station 100,7 during Claude Mangen's show Rendezvous mam Buch. Click on the link above to listen to the show.
01.02.2009
Television interview on the dok Show with Maurice Molitor.
My first appearance on TV!
The Dok Show is a popular Luxembourgish talkshow in which the host, Maurice Molitor, interviews three or four guests, mostly people from the national cultural scene. We talked for about 15 minutes about my novel, A Winter Tale, and about the reedition of the poetry collection Prairieblummen.
25.11.2008
Lecture on Nicolas Gonner's Prairieblummen. Centre national de littérature, Mersch, Luxembourg.
My first ever lecture! I was nervous as hell to get up there and speak, but by the end of the evening, I had got the stage bug. Click on the link above to read the script and view the pictures of the slideshow. [in Luxembourgish]