“How heavy is air when it is empty / of singing and song, of the humming / of disparate tunes till sleep befalls?” Nico Bleutge asks this question in one of the poems in his newest volume. The book is rooted in two of the most existential experiences there are: the birth of a child and the death of the father. With tender precision, several poems query how the associated experiences can be conveyed in verse, how close one can come to the perceptions of a child, of one who is departing.
Moderation: Beate Tröger
Born in Munich in 1972, Nico Bleutge studied German philology, general rhetoric and philosophy. For the four volumes of poems he has published to date, he has won awards such as the Kranichsteiner Literature Prize and a residency scholarship at Villa Massimo. His 2020 book Drei Fliegen (Three Flies) is a collection of Bleutge’s essays, speeches and reviews. The author’s subtle, sensitive dialogues also won him the Alfred Kerr Prize for Literary Criticism in 2016.
Moderator and literary critic Beate Tröger, born in Selb in 1973, will host the evening. Tröger writes reviews for numerous organizations, can frequently be heard on the radio (DLF, SWR, WDR) and also serves on juries – for the SWR Leaderboard and the Huchel Prize, for example.
Kindly supported by Bayern liest e.V. (Bavaria Reads)
Tickets: 8 euros/6 euros (discount rate). Lyrik Kabinett members receive free admission. For more information, please visit the Lyrik Kabinett website. The event will be held in German.
LMU and the Lyrik Kabinett have worked together very intensively for over 30 years. The more than 70,000 works subsumed under the Lyrik Kabinett Foundation are available via OPAC to everyone related to LMU. Numerous events provide a fascinating insight into the current poetic landscape.