International Literary Festival Odessa 2021: Programme 22-23 September

9.00—10.00
Location: TBA
Languages: German, Ukrainian
MAWIL GERMANY online
"Kinderland"

This graphic novel, which was awarded the Max & Moritz Prize, is a coming-of-age story set in the GDR in which self-discovery simultaneously reflects the East Germans’ emancipation from a communist government.

"With Mawil, it’s not cardboard figures who talk, bicker, shout, and scold, but actually pupils with different education and social backgrounds. Mawil is their faithful biographer. You won’t find a better one any time soon" ("Rolling Stone")

9.00 – 10.00
Location: TBA
Languages: Deutsch, Ukrainisch
SEBASTIAN MESCHENMOSER
GERMANY online
"Chick"

In his picture book for children ages four and up, the author and illustrator tells the story of a little chicken named Chick. Newly hatched alongside its five siblings, it dreams of growing up to be a proud, magnificent rooster who will drive away even the evil fox with his crowing. But as Chick grows bigger without developing either a rooster comb or magnificent tail feathers, it realizes that it is a chicken. But Chick goes on to prove that you don’t need arooster comb to have strength and courage.

11.30 – 13.00
Location: TBA
Languages: German, Ukrainian
FERDINAND LUTZ online
COMICS

The comic book artist, screenwriter, publisher, animation designer, and winner of the 2007 German Cartoon Prize presents his comics, which appear in German, English, and French. He usually travels with a musician and sound artist when reading from his books. His short film "Stay in Queue" has received more than 35 million hits online and has been presented at several international film festivals as well as by the BBC.

10.00 – 13.00
Location: Odesa Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre V. Vasylko
Languages: Deutsch, Ukrainisch
LUKAS BÄRFUSS SWITZERLAND
Workshop for Actors and Directors
"Time and place"

This writer, theater director, dramaturge, and stage writer, whose works have been performed worldwide, is among the most important German-speaking playwrights. In his tragicomic texts, he above all portrays societal deficits and the depths of human nature. He has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Mülheim Dramatist Prize, the Swiss Book Prize, and the Georg Büchner Prize, and in 2020 took over the artistic direction of theWorld Theater in Einsiedeln.

18.00 – 20.00
Location: Odesa Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre “V. Vasylko”
Language: Ukrainian
IGOR BAUERSIMA SWITZERLAND
"Norway.today"

This two-person drama with an open ending premiered in 2000 at the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus under the direction of the author and has since been staged at over 100 theaters worldwide. In it, the jaded 20-year-old Julie goes on an internet search for people who share her view. She ends upfinding August, with whom she wants to jump from a rock on the Lysefjord in Norway. 

9.00 – 10.00
Location: TBA
Languages: German, Ukrainian
MIKAËL ROSS GERMANY
online
"Golden boy"

In his graphic novel published in 2020, the Max & Moritz Prize-winning artist focuses on the youthful years of musical genius Ludwig van Beethoven, who ventured from the confines of his family circumstances to imperial Vienna to become a pupil of the respected Joseph Haydn. In text and images, he poses the questions of whether one is born a genius and how one becomes one of the greatest composers of all time.

9.00 – 10.00
Location: TBA
Language: Ukrainian
VALERIY PUZIK UKRAINE
"Delphi and the wizards"

In modern Odesa, the tanker Delfi is attacked by three dragons who spit fire and want to destroy everything that stands in their way. The hero of the day turns out to be eight-year-old Orest, who has been selected to be a magician and must now pass a series of tests and save the city from destruction and oblivion. The children’s book combines reality with the world of magic and leads the reader through the mysterious corners of the harbor town on the Black Sea.

11.00 – 12.30
Location: Mechnikov National University
Languages: Ukrainian, Russian
YEVHENIA BELORUSETS UKRAINE
online
"A series of lectures on modern animal life"

The book is a collection of texts and photographs about the relationship between humans and animals in today’s world. It shows the developments inthe area of animal welfare in Ukraine in recent years. Through the appreciation of many initiatives and campaigns, the transformation of Ukrainian society’s attitude towards animals is revealed. Social tendencies and the national sense of identity also become visible.

10.30 – 11.30
Location: TBA
Language: Ukrainian
HALYNA VDOVICHENKO UKRAINE
"36 and 6 cats"

In 2015, the first part of this tetralogy about the adventures of rogue cats was published, and the story was included in Ukraine’s reading program for primary and secondary schools. First, we learn how the 36 adult cats and 6 kittens find a home with Ms. Krepova and even help her nephew start a company. Later, the cats take on roles as detectives, football players, and stage actors, and eventually start up a cat rescue service.

12.00- 13.00
Location: House of Scientists
Languages: English, Ukrainian
YVONNE ADHIAMBO OWUOR KENIA online
"The Dragonfly Sea" Translated by Yevheniia Kononenko

The second novel by the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing is about a girl named Ayaana, who lives with her mother on an island off the coast of Kenya. When she’s on the cusp of adulthood, Ayaana experiences profound changes on the island and embarks on a dangerous journey on a ship in search of happiness, ultimately finding herself in the process. A riveting story of fate, love, and loss.

13.00 – 14.00
Location: House of Scientists
Language: Ukrainian
SERHIY HRUSHKO, head of Booknet
"Development of samizdat in Ukraine and abroad"

Booknet is an online literary platform for writers and readers. Serhiy Hrushko, co-founder of Booknet, will talk about how writers can easily publish theirwork, protect it from piracy, earn money, and have an active dialogue with their readers.

14.00 – 15.00
Location: House of Scientists
Language: Russian
SASHA FILIPENKO BЕLARUS online
Life in Belarus Today

The Minsk-born writer, whose 2014 novel "Ex-Son" describes a new generation that will no longer remain silent on events and conditions under the Lukashenko regime, demonstrates his skill in offering profound commentary on current events in Belarus. "Tens of thousands of people have now been imprisoned and tortured. If we give up hope, it means we abandon them all«"

15.00 – 16.00
Location: House of Scientists
Language: Russian
LYUDMILA ULITSKAYA RUSSIA
Keynote Speech: "A Life of Reading Dangerously"

"One can say that the development of every person and their personal history is, to a great extent, the history of their experiences with reading". In her keynote speech, which opens the 7th international literature festival odesa, the award-winning author describes her journey as a reader and discussesher relationship with books and encounters with well-known poets and writers of the past.

16.00 – 19.00
Location: House of Scientists
Language: Ukrainian
YURI ANDRUKHOVYCH, SERHIY ZHADAN, LYUDMILA CHERSONSKAYA, BORIS CHERSONSKY, YEVHENIA BELORUSETS online, VALERIY PUZIK, HALYNA VDOVICHENKO, MARYANA SAWKA, SERHIY OSOKA, DMYTRO LAZUTKIN UKRAINE

UKRAINE 30 – The History of Independence in texts

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence, the authors read together from prose, poems, and reportages that reflect on life in Ukraine over the last 30 years. Both the past as well as expectations for the future will be examined.

20.00 – 22.00
Location: Odesa Academic Ukrainian
Music and Drama Theatre V. Vasylko
ZHADAN AND DOGS UKRAINE
Literary concert

The band "Zhadan and the Dogs", fronted by lead singer and songwriter Serhiy Zhadan, has released four studio albums to date and often performs in the cities of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including at the first Mariupol MRPL City Festival in July 2017. At the ILO festival concert, they will present songs with new lyrics by Serhiy Zhadan, who time and again addresses the topic of Ukrainian independence.