Moderators

THORSTEN DÖNGES studied German language and literature and history in Bamberg. Since 2000, he has worked at the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin where he coordinates the programme in contemporary German-language literature. He first discovered and fell in love with the Leukerbad International Literary Festival as a moderator in 2006.

ETRIT HASLER was born in 1977 in St. Gallen and is one of the pioneers of Swiss Slam Poetry. Since his first slam in 2000, he has taken part in hundreds of slams in Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, the Netherlands, Serbia, Egypt, and not least in the United States, the motherland of poetry slams. In recent years he has appeared more often as moderator. He is also active as a journalist and translator of English poetry and sits on the St. Gallen city and canton councils.

CHRISTINE LÖTSCHER is a literary scholar and critic. She is currently a Fellow in the Cinepoetics research group at the Freie Universität Berlin. From 2014 to 2016 she was on the team of critics for Swiss television’s Literaturclub broadcast. In 2014 her study of fantasy writing, DAS ZAUBERBUCH ALS DENKFIGUR, was published by Chronos Publishers.

ROBERT RENK is a bookseller and active proponent of literature in Innsbruck. He successfully broke off his studies in mathematics and German language and literature. He is the author of several publications and a guest lecturer in literature at the University of Innsbruck. and directed several cultural centers and festivals in Austria. His most recent published work is PROBLEME MIT DER REAL EXISTIERENDEN WAHRHEIT – EIN GESPRÄCH MIT KATJA LANGE-MÜLLER in Quart 27/2016.

RETO SORG teaches contemporary German literature at the University of Lausanne and directs the Robert Walser Zentrum in Berlin. His areas of specialty are Literary Modernity, Intermedia, Contemporary literature, and Swiss literature. His most recent publications include:
MEDIEN DER AUTORSCHAFT. Formen literarischer (Selbst-)Inszenierung. 2013
OHNE ACHTSAMKEIT BEACHTE ICH ALLES. Robert Walser und die bildende Kunst. 2014
HISTORIOGRAFIE DER MODERNE. Carl Einstein, Paul Klee, Robert Walser und die wechselseitige Erhellung der Künste. 2016

RAPHAEL URWEIDER (1974) is a poet, playwright, translator, and musician. He has published several volumes of poetry and written plays with Samuel Schwarz, Pedro Lenz, and Matto Kämpf, among others. In June, the musical “Sit so guet – s’il vous plait – s.v.p.” was staged in Bern, for which he wrote the libretto, composed the music, and performed on the piano. A new collection of his poetry will appear with Hanser Verlag next year. Raphael Urweider’s list of publications includes:
ALLE DEINE NAMEN. Gedichte von der Liebe und der Liederlichkeit. Dumont 2008
DAS GEGENTEIL VON FLEISCH. Dumont 2003
KOBOLD UND DER KUNSTPFEIFER. Ottensheim 2002
LICHTER IN MENLO PARK. Dumont 2000

STEFAN ZWEIFEL is a freelance journalist in Zürich. He recently translated works by Rousseau and Cendrars. He led the SRF Literaturclub until 2014. With Juri Steiner he organized ‘SOS Dada’ in the Swiss Salon at the Biennale in Venice and ‘Dada Universal’ in the Zurich Landesmuseum. His most recent publication with co-author Michael Pfister is SHADES OF SADE (Matthes & Seitz 2015).