Burnside: Poetry make things happen
02.06.2017
The Scottish poet and novelist John Burnside is to give the 2017 Berlin Poetry Lecture on 18 June in the Academy of Arts in Pariser Platz. The event is part of the poesiefestival berlin.
In his lecture, entitled ‘Where executives would never want to tamper?’ Burnside develops his ideas as a contradiction of the famous line by W.H. Auden that “Poetry makes nothing happen”. For Burnside, poetry is an essential element of being human. It teaches us to use all our capabilities equally and gives us a comprehensive understanding of things. The creation of poetry and the creation of the world are closely intertwined. In this sense, according to Burnside, poetry is also a political instrument that is desperately necessary today “with a Mad King in the Palace and the flood water rising”. Burnside delivers a resolute refusal to the rising tide of nationalism and xenophobia; at the same time the lecture is a powerful plea for poetry as a form of thought and action in consciousness of its responsibility.
The lecture is being published in a bilingual edition by Wallstein Verlag.
Sunday 18 June 2017, 11 am
Academy of Arts, Pariser Platz 4, Berlin
John Burnside is also reading at Weltklang – Nacht der Poesie, the opening event of the 18th poesiefestival berlin: Europa_ Fata Morgana on 16 June at 7 pm in the Academy of Arts in Hanseatenweg 10.
John Burnside: “Wo die Exekutive ihre Finger einzieht?“/”Where executives would never want to tamper?” Wie die Poesie im Zeitalter des Kultur-Totalitarismus überdauert/How poetry survives in an age of cultural totalitarianism. German-English. Translated from the English by Iain Galbraith. 2017 Berlin Poetry Lecture. 84 pp., hardcover € 13.90.Wallstein Verlag 978-3-8353-3063-4
18th poesiefestival berlin: Europa_ Fata Morgana
16-24 June 2017
Academy of Arts, Pariser Platz 4,10117 Berlin and
Academy of Arts, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
The poesiefestival berlin is a project by the Haus für Poesie in co-operation with the Academy of Arts and gratefully acknowledges the support of the Hauptstadtkulturfonds and the Auswärtiges Amt.
Festival programme and advance ticket sales at www.haus-fuer-poesie.org
Press photos for download www.haus-fuer-poesie.org/de/presse
Accreditation at presse@haus-fuer-poesie.org
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Information:
Haus für Poesie
Jana Bialluch Press & Publicity
Tel: 030. 48 52 45 24
E-Mail: presse@haus-fuer-poesie.org