30^th Leukerbad International Literary Festival

Perspectives

The Leukerbad International Literary Festival has a long tradition of offering more than presentations of books. The exclusively curated conversations in the ‘Perspectives’ series take up and address topical issues in society, politics and literature.

This year:
Life of Texts I: Beginnings
Life of Texts II: The Vitality of “Der Wettermacher”
Life of Texts III: On Narration and Archiving
Motherhood and Its Ghosts
Where does Europe stand?
Syria: What remains of the post-Assad optimism?

Life of Texts I
Beginnings

With Peter Stamm and students Jonathan Merz, Niclo Schmidt, Konstantin Stawenow, Daria Pauke and Florian Weder

In cooperation with the Swiss Literature Institute
As part of the writing workshop “Where does a text begin?”, five students – or, by the time of the festival, graduates – from the Swiss Literature Institute worked with Peter Stamm to write beginnings, read beginnings and reflect on beginnings. The discussion will focus on starting to write and on the role of the author; during the reading, they will offer an insight into their writing projects.

Life of Texts II
The Vitality of “Der Wettermacher”

With Peter Weber and Christian Döring
Moderator: Lucas Marco Gisi

In cooperation with the Swiss Literary Archives
Rarely has a book by a Swiss author received as much critical acclaim in the German-speaking literary world as Der Wettermacher by Peter Weber, published by Suhrkamp Verlag in 1993. A debut as a headline title, added to the autumn program at the last minute. Peter Weber, whose literary beginnings are linked to the Leukerbad Literature Festival – or rather to the period when the festival began to take shape as such – and his editor at the time, Christian Döring, recall the story of a truly extraordinary book’s creation and discuss the vitality of texts; how they come into being, how they take shape, and the paths they follow even after being bound between two covers.

Life of Texts III
On Narration and Archiving

With Jonas Lüscher and Désirée Reynolds
Moderator: Lucas Marco Gisi

In cooperation with the Swiss Literary Archives
What stories does an archive tell? Whose stories never make it into the archive? What stories do the gaps in an archive tell? Who decides what is archived? Which part of which archive are we? – Questions that Désirée Reynolds addresses with the art’s simultaneously precise and expansive perspective, and which Jonas Lüscher outlines in the dystopian section of his book Verzauberte Vorbestimmung.

Motherhood and Its Ghosts

With Iman Mersal
Moderator: Mustafa Al-Slaiman

In Motherhood and Its Ghosts, an essay collection that is part autobiography, part literary criticism, Iman Mersal describes motherhood as an “existential struggle, a tug-of-war between one self and another”, entailing guilt, angst, and conflict. For all the advances of feminist discourse, Mersal argues, feminist theories have yet to fully consider the range of emotions inherent in motherhood, such as frustration or anger. To fill this gap, Mersal urges mothers to narrate their own experience, or “to take refuge in a narrative that will help you see that you are not alone”. In Leukerbad, Iman Mersal discusses perspectives on motherhood and expectations directed towards mothers (from others and from within) with Mustafa Al-Slaiman. A different view on a topic very present in European literature, culture and society as well.

Since Hoda Barakat had to cancel her participation in the festival, the planned discussion on Beirut will not take place. Instead the discussion “Motherhood and Its Ghosts” will be held.

Where does Europe stand?

With Radka Denemarková and Robert Menasse
Moderator: Lukas Bärfuss

Almost exactly ten years to the day before the start of this festival, a shockwave rippled through Europe: in the Brexit referendum, the British had actually voted “Leave” and would be leaving the EU. It was the clearest setback to date for the European project, which – not least in Brussels – had long seemed a sure-fire success despite criticism of democratic deficits and regulatory mania. Today, the signs of disintegration can no longer be overlooked: there is scarcely a European country in which anti-democratic forces are not on the rise. No one wants to bury the idea of Europe, and yet a realistic assessment is needed: what paths are still open? Which structures are viable, and which need to change? Was Switzerland right all along with its reservations? In her novels, Radka Denemarková has repeatedly explored repressed chapters of European history. She is an active advocate for democracy and human rights. And she comes from a country whose long-standing leading political figure, Andrej Babiš, with his Agrofert conglomerate, epitomises the undermining of the European ideal. Robert Menasse, the great champion of the EU, has repeatedly made institutional Europe and its influence on the lives of Europeans the subject of his writings. In his latest novella, Die Lebensentscheidung, he too measures the idea of Europe against the realities of the EU. Together with Lukas Bärfuss, the two discuss the reasons for the ongoing crisis and search for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Syria: What remains of the post-Assad optimism?

With Ronya Othmann
Moderator: Thorsten Dönges

Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, many things seemed possible in Syria: even then, there were already critical voices directed at the dictator’s successors but overall, a sense of relief – and yes, of liberation – prevailed; one could simply walk straight through the notorious, previously strictly sealed-off Saidnaya torture prison. During this period, Ronya Othmann travelled to the country with her Kurdish-Yazidi father, resulting in the collection of reports Rückkehr nach Syrien. Today, a year and a half later, the situation looks far more sobering – the plight of the Kurds in particular is dire. In conversation with Thorsten Dönges, Ronya Othmann assesses the prospects for the country and its diverse inhabitants with her characteristic unvarnished clarity, and tells the stories of people whose stories are constantly in danger of being lost.