“Boozugschichtä va hiitu”

New horror stories from Leuk—written and read by young people

As Wilfried Meichtrys’ gruesome Pfynwald book Hexenplatz und Mörderstein (2010) goes to show, horror stories are as much a part of the cultural heritage of Valais as cool wine and hot cheese. It’s therefore only logical that the celebrated Valais Youth Writing Workshops should insure that the tradition of this genre keeps going strong: on June 13 and 14, no fewer than forty-eight young students from the Leuk regional school will come up with their own fearsome “Boozugschichtä” (ghost stories) during the forty-eight-hour-long intensive workshop. The group will be led by two professionals: the native Leuk writer Christine Pfammatter (Berlin) and Susten-born poet Rolf Hermann, who lives in Biel.

It’s no spoiler to say that the audience can look forward to a scarily colorful program of “Boozugschichtä”—especially since the participating classes, according to the teacher, are an exceedingly diverse group of Valaisers! The young authors hail from such various places as: Agarn, Albinen, Bratsch, Guttet-Feschel, Erschmatt, Susten, Varen, and Leuk—not to mention the three immersion students from Lower Valais! These young people naturally bring with them widely varying (family)(hi)stories, as well as disparate hobbies: from soccer, apparatus gymnastics, and ice hockey to dancing and archery, which leads us to the outlaw Robin Hood—or perhaps to the yet-to-be-invented Valaiser freedom fighter Robin Pfyn—or maybe Robina Rotten...?!

The Valais Writing Workshops are run by Palais Valais, an association of Valais literary organizations. In addition to the Leukerbad Literary Festival, Palais Valais includes the foundation Schloss Leuk, the Spycher: Leuk Literature Prize and the Fondation Rilke, as well as the newly-added Valais Media Library. Palais Valais also offers the ongoing project Schulhausroman/Roman d’école.

Contact: Richard Reich (President, Palais Valais), reich@jull.ch
Further information: fondationrilke.ch, schulhausroman.ch

With support from the Kulturfunken/Dienststelle für Kultur des Kantons Wallis and Loterie Romande.

Friday, June 14, at 6 pm
Leuk, Spritzenhaus

Free admission / reception (Cave Mathier & Bodenmann, Salgesch)
With: two tenth grade classes (under the direction of: Simone Oggier), Christine Pfammatter and Rolf Hermann
Moderation: Richard Reich