Bard Translation and Translatability Initiative and German Studies Program Present

On the Politics of Our Times: A Poetic Dialog with Wolfgang Hilbig, presented by Uwe Kolbe

Rumor has it that dictatorship and censorship were stimulating for poetry. This event will present the poetic writings by two authors, Wolfgang Hilbig (1941–2007) and Uwe Kolbe (b. 1957), whose work began under the conditions of a closed society, whose writings contributed to this society’s opening and continued to unfold and provoke after its collapse, marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall. This public reading of both writers’ imaginative work understands itself as an invitation for a discussion on literature and politics.

Uwe Kolbe is an eminent poet, essayist, writer of prose, and translator. His first volume of poetry, Hineingeboren (“Born Into”), appeared in East Berlin in 1980. The increasingly critical nature of his writing led to a ban on publication in the GDR soon after. During the early 1980s, he edited the underground journal Mikado. Eventually, he was permitted to travel abroad and lived between Hamburg and East Berlin. Kolbe is the author of 13 books of poetry and the recipient of many prestigious prizes. He also was a writer in residence at the University of Texas at Austin and at Oberlin College. His collection of essays, Vineta’s Archives (2012), received the distinguished Heinrich-Mann-Award from the Academy of Arts Berlin.

Presented with generous support of the S. Fischer Foundation.

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For more information, call 845-758-7363, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm EST/GMT-5

Location: Olin Humanities, Room 204

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