Literary week on the theme of family ties

What does family mean to us? What changes has it experienced as a social unit over time and in different cultures? And does the categorical statement that you can't choose your family still apply? Around these questions, around the motto “Family ties – happiness? The 48th Bremen Literary Week is about the blessings and unblessings of the family in literature, film and art.

Judith Hermann reads at the start

The diverse program begins with a reading by Judith Hermann . The author, who was awarded the Bremen Literature Prize in 2022, is a guest in the central library and will read from her current novel “We would have told ourselves everything”.

Diverse program

Using his family's story, journalist Felix Lee retells China's rapid development. On January 24th, Lee is with “China, my father and me. About the rise of a superpower and what the Lee family from Wolfsburg had to do with it” in the Central Library. In addition to further readings by the Spanish author Rosa Ribas, Dana Vowinckel and the well-known voice actor Jens Wawrczeck, the Literary Week also offers open workshops on the topic of family diversity in picture books, family pictures in graphic novels and also a comic workshop.

Award ceremony and reading 

One of the highlights this year is the awarding of the 70th Bremen Literature Prize on January 22nd. This year's winner is Teresa Präauer, who is being honored for her novel “Cooking in the Wrong Century”. Katharina Mevissen received the sponsorship award for “Mother’s Voice Break”. On the evening before the award ceremony, the winners will read from their award-winning works in the bell.

You can find the complete program of the Literary Week here >>

December 12, 2023