7. June 2022 | Press releases:

LiteraTUr Festival on the North Campus TU Braunschweig: Readings with picnic and popcorn

Summertime is festival time! That’s why the Institute of German Studies at Technische Universität Braunschweig invites you to the LiteraTUr Festival on the North Campus on 24 June 2022. Four award-winning authors will read from their current works. To create a real festival atmosphere there will also be a food truck and popcorn.

The festival is part of the project “Gegenwartspoetiken – Literatur im öffentlichen Raum” (Contemporary Poetics – Literature in Public Space) by Professor Julia Schöll from the Institute of German Studies at TU Braunschweig. The project, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, investigates the status of literature in the present and in society, and how literature is staged in public space. What could make more sense than bringing literature to the lawns of the North Campus with a festival? “We invite the people of Braunschweig to a place they don’t go to every day,” says Professor Schöll. “Through the readings, we can make this space a discoverable terrain.”

Four authors are taking part in the LiteraTUr Festival: Tamara Bach, Nils Mohl, Yannic Han Biao Federer and Jenny Erpenbeck. “It was important to us to have readings for children and young people in the programme,” says Professor Schöll.  “The children should experience that literature is a living thing that can also take place outside on a picnic blanket with a bag of popcorn in hand.”

An invisible dog and paths of love

The festival starts with the children’s book “Das Pferd ist ein Hund” (The Horse is a Dog) on 24 June at 3 pm. The story by Tamara Bach centres on Clara, who experiences a winter so cold that all schools are closed. But at least an invisible dog causes some excitement. For young people aged 14 and over, Nils Mohl‘s “Henny & Ponger” is an extraordinary love story with a chase scene.

The programme for adults begins at 5:30 pm. Yannic Han Biao Federer tells the story of “Tao”, who follows his family’s footsteps from China to Indonesia to Germany. Finally, Jenny Erpenbeck reads from her current novel “Kairos”, which tells the story of the end of the GDR through a toxic love affair.

Friday, 24 June 2022, from 3 pm

North Campus, Bienroder Weg 80, lawn opposite Building 84,
alternative location in case of bad weather: Building 84

Admission is free. Feel free to bring picnic blankets.

Programme of the Literature Festival

  • 3 p.m.: Tamara Bach reads from “Das Pferd ist ein Hund”
    for children aged 10 and up
  • 4 p.m.: Nils Mohl reads from “Henny & Ponger”
    for young people aged 14 and up
  • 5:30 p.m.: Yannic Han Biao Federer reads from “Tao”
    for adults
  • 7 p.m.: Jenny Erpenbeck reads from “Kairos”
    for adults