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Programme OFF Stage Switzerland 2024

Literature

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Following its successful debut last year, OFF Stage Switzerland is geared up for its second edition at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The multilingual programme on Swiss literature will be presenting a broad-based selection of short readings, theme-based events, workshops and networking opportunities, with a special focus on publications in Italian and Italian-related topics. OFF Stage Switzerland complements Pro Helvetia’s activities at the book fair, which also include support for the Swiss collective booth and the mentoring programme ‘Frankfurter Seilschaften’.

OFF Stage Switzerland programme 2024

The programme comprises a large number of diverse and exciting events throughout the duration of the fair.

Location: Halle 3.1, F122 (Frankfurter Buchmesse).

Follow us on Instagram for live updates of OFF Stage Switzerland during the book fair.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2024

16–20 October 2024

Click here for the full programme

Further information:

Frankfurter Seilschaften 

‘Frankfurter Seilschaften’ is a mentoring programme for emerging Swiss authors at the Frankfurt Book Fair in cooperation with the Swiss authors’ association A*dS Autorinnen und Autoren der Schweiz.

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Book yoga
Karina Goldberg

Daily 09:30-10:00

The daily book yoga session led by Karina Goldberg is a perfect opportunity to build up energy for the day in a playful way. Book fair days can be long and intense, so how to best prepare oneself physically and mentally? We train our feet for the long walks around the fair premises, train our back for successful negotiations, and open our heart for numerous encounters and stories. During these morning warm-up sessions, we always have a loyal companion with us – our current favourite book.  

Karina Goldberg © Karina Goldberg

Karina Goldberg was born 1981 in Buenos Aires and lives in Frankfurt. She has been accompanying the literature and cultural programme of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s guest countries for 12 years and teaching yoga since 2018.

Short reading
Muskeln aus Plastik, Selma Kay Matter

Wednesday, 16 Oct., 10:30-11:00

Kay has a serious crush - and a serious illness. The crush is always followed by a crash, severe palpitations by migraines, kissing by aching limbs. While Kay tries to escape the consequences of Long Covid, only the longing for Aron and the desire for a strong, androgynous body bring relief. Muskeln aus Plastik (Hanser, 2024) deals with chronic illness and transness - and the way our society thinks and talks about ‘healthy’ bodies. Beyond all formal and intellectual traditions, Selma Kay Matter explores the thin line between pleasure and pain, imagining new forms of care, intimacy and queer resistance - an impressive, intuitive and moving debut. 

Selma Kay Matter, born in Zurich, studied Creative Writing for the Stage at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Hildesheim Literature Institute. Selma is the author of the theatre plays Alice verschwindet, Alias Anastasius and Grelle Tage. The latter was awarded the Hans Gratzer Prize 2022 and the Nestroy Prize 2023. Muskeln aus Plastik is Selma Kay Matter's first work of prose.

Accent
Teamwork makes the dream work – collaboration with agencies 
Cornelia Mechler, Tabea Steiner

Wednesday, 16 Oct., 11:30-12:30

It’s not easy nowadays for authors with a manuscript to find a publisher. Editors at publishing houses suffer from notorious lack of time and many publishers no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts. Convincing a literary agency can help. But how to find a suitable agency? What can writers expect from their services? And what kind of offers should make authors wary? Cornelia Mechler, director of the Swiss authors’ association A*dS (Autorinnen und Autoren der Schweiz), reveals the most important aspects of a trustworthy cooperation. She is followed by author Tabea Steiner, who in a discussion format outlines her own agency experiences. Questions from the audience are welcome. 

Portrait of a woman
Cornelia Mechler © Raffael Soppelsa

Cornelia Mechler, born in 1977, studied art history and German language and literature after an initial apprenticeship as a bookseller. She worked as an editor and manager at a publishing house, was responsible for marketing and PR at the art museum Thurgau and museum Ittingen (Switzerland) and has been director of the Swiss authors’ association A*dS since 2023.  

Portrait of a woman in front a white wall
Tabea Steiner © Ayse Yavas

Tabea Steiner, born 1981, studied German language and literature and ancient history. Her first novel, Balg (edition bücherlese, 2019), was nominated for the Swiss Book Award. Her second novel, Immer zwei und zwei, was published in 2023 and her collection of essays entitled Heidi kann brauchen, was sie gelernt hat, in 2024, both by edition bücherlese.

Accent
How to pitch – book to film
Karla Kutzner, Cyrill Gerber

Wednesday, 16 Oct., 13:00-14:00

Pitching sessions enable the film industry and producers in particular to discover literary texts for film. But how do publishers and authors pitch literary works most effectively - especially since the form of presentation sometimes runs counter to the habits and customs of the book world?

Karla Kutzner (Books at Berlinale) and Cyrill Gerber (CEO and Producer of the Swiss production company Milan Film) give insights into their work: Why, for example, is a film adaptation of the book Provenzhauptschtadt by Swiss author Béla Rothenbühler interesting for the producer and what do authors and publishers need to know when it comes to film adaptations? Both will answer questions from the audience in a Q & A afterwards. 

Karla Kutzner has been coordinating Books at Berlinale since 2023, bringing together producers and authors at the first rights market for film rights. 

She is also the founder of InterKontinental. Together with two partners, she has been running an agency, a bookshop and a publishing house for six years and organises the annual African Book Festival in Berlin.

Cyrill Gerber, born in 1984, studied philosophy and German, worked as a screenwriter at Constantin Entertainment in Munich and completed further training as a producer at the Bavarian Academy for Television. In 2018, he produced his first feature film OUT OF PARADISE, which won Best Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival. As a board member of Balimage (Basler Verein für Film und Medienkunst), he is committed to the regional film scene and is a member of the Swiss producers' association IG Unabhängige Schweizer Filmproduzenten.

Accent
Being part of a large linguistic family – on writing in and translating into/from languages with few speakers 
Flurina Badel, Nadia Rungger, Kirsten Brandt

Wednesday, 16 Oct., 14:30-15:30

What is it like to write in languages spoken only by a small number of people? And how do such texts get translated? Does it make sense for authors to do the translations themselves? What happens to texts in the (self-)translation process? Flurina Badel, author of German and Rhaeto-Romance texts, doesn’t translate her own work, whereas Nadia Rungger, who writes in German and Ladin, does. The two authors talk to translator Kirsten Brandt, who primarily translates from Catalan, about these questions and about what it means to network in various Romance languages and so become part of a large linguistic family.

Portrait of a woman
Flurina Badel © Juliette Chretien

Flurina Badel, born in 1983, is an author and visual artist. In 2019 she published her first volume of poems entitled tinnitus tropic (editionmevinapuorger), for which she received a Swiss Literature Prize in 2020. She is also committed to promoting Rhaeto-Romance literature, working as an editor for the literature programme Impuls on the Rhaeto-Romance radio and TV station RTR and for events at the LitteraturA Nairs festival.

Nadia Rungger, Litteratura Nairs Literatur Festival Neolatin © Mayk Wendt

Nadia Rungger, born in 1998, lives in Gröden/South Tyrol (Italy). Sie writes poetry, theatre texts and stories in German and Ladin. Her debut collection of poems and stories, Das Blatt mit den Lösungen (Verlag A. Weger), was published in 2020. For it, she received several awards, most recently the 2024 Irseer Pegasus jury prize and the 2024 Lichtungen-Lyrik grant of the Austrian province Steiermark. Her theatre piece Morvëies (miracles) was staged in collaboration with the theatre Stadttheater Bruneck as part of the European project phōnē.

Portrait of a woman
Kirsten Brandt © Dolors Pena

Kirsten Brandt was born in Friedberg, Germany, in 1963. After an apprenticeship as a bookseller, she studied Portuguese, English and German in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Lisbon and Braga. She moved to Barcelona in 1996, where she worked as a literary agent at the Ute Körner agency and as the head of legal and licencing at the Quadern Crema/Acantilado publishing house. Today she is a freelance translator from Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese and lives in Germany.

Short reading
Tschiera, Flurina Badel

Wednesday, 16 Oct., 15:30-16:00

Short reading in Romansh (Vallader) with a German translation from Flurina Badel's novel Tschiera (Chasa Editura Rumantscha, 2024): Affordable housing is increasingly being sold into the luxury segment, with devastating consequences for the villages of the Lower Engadine. This change causes both Aita and Luis to struggle. Both characters are in their mid-thirties and are affected in different ways. Flurina Badel's debut novel is based on true events and is told with subtle humour, unflinchingly and highly poetically.

Portrait of a woman
Flurina Badel © Juliette Chretien

Flurina Badel, born in 1983, is an author and visual artist living. In 2019 she published her first volume of poems entitled tinnitus tropic (editionmevinapuorger), for which she received a Swiss Literature Prize in 2020. She is also committed to promoting Rhaeto-Romance literature, working as an editor for the literature programme Impuls on the Rhaeto-Romance radio and TV station RTR and for events at the LitteraturA Nairs festival.

OFF'n'BAR
The lost income of authors. On markets that ignore writers 
Nicole Pfister Fetz

Wednesday, 16 Oct., 16:30-17:00

OFF’n’BAR provides a platform and meeting point for practitioners in the literature sector – translators, event organisers, authors and illustrators. In the form of a toast or a short speech, they air their motivation and their concerns. On this occasion, Nicole Pfister Fetz, Secretary-General of the European Writers’ Council (EWC), will be speaking about the lost income of authors. Everyone agrees that writers should be appropriately remunerated, and there are numerous initiatives trying to bring this about. Yet in reality, authors are often required to make their works available for little or no compensation – at least work aimed at the so-called general public. Two recent studies from France and Germany reveal market practices in which authors are barely taken into account at all. This speech gives thought-provoking input for all those concerned. 

Portrait of a woman in front of a silver and pink glitter curtain
Nicole Pfister-Fetz © privat

Nicole Pfister Fetz is an art historian, a cultural lobbyist and Secretary-General of the European Writers’ Council (EWC). Prior to this, she was director of the Swiss authors’ association A*dS (Autorinnen und Autoren der Schweiz), president of Suisseculture Sociale, and a board member of both Suisseculture and the intellectual property right society ProLitteris. She is also a guest lecturer for cultural lobbying at the University of Basel.  

The European Writers‘ Council (EWC) is the world’s largest society representing exclusively book authors. It comprises 50 national writers’ and translators’ associations from 32 countries, which altogether unite over 220,000 professional authors writing and publishing in 35 different languages.

The Swiss authors’ association A*dS and the European Writers‘ Council (EWC), in collaboration with the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, cordially invite book professionals to a networking apéro with prosecco and snacks. The event begins with a toast by Nicole Pfister Fetz, Secretary-General of the EWC, on the topic ‘the lost income of authors. On markets that ignore writers’. The networking apéro will be followed by a party at the same location. 

Authors and other book industry practitioners are invited to participate.  

16.30: Toast by Nicole Pfister Fetz (EWC) 

17.00–18.00: Networking apéro  

From 18.00: Party  

No prior registration is required. We look forward to meeting you and to some inspiring debates and encounters.

Book yoga
Karina Goldberg

Daily 09:30-10:00

The daily book yoga session led by Karina Goldberg is a perfect opportunity to build up energy for the day in a playful way. Book fair days can be long and intense, so how to best prepare oneself physically and mentally? We train our feet for the long walks around the fair premises, train our back for successful negotiations, and open our heart for numerous encounters and stories. During these morning warm-up sessions, we always have a loyal companion with us – our current favourite book.  

Karina Goldberg © Karina Goldberg

Karina Goldberg was born 1981 in Buenos Aires and lives in Frankfurt. She has been accompanying the literature and cultural programme of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s guest countries for 12 years and teaching yoga since 2018.

Short reading
Il manuale del fosforo e dei fiammiferi, Matteo Terzaghi

Thursday, 17 Oct., 13:00-13:30

A short reading and discussion with Matteo Terzaghi, held in Italian with German translation. His third book (Quodlibet, 2024) plays with the formats of manual, encyclopaedia and fable while talking about people’s childhood and everyday exceptionalities. The protagonists include a hermit who converts a forest into a huge encyclopaedia, a conductor without orchestra, the student Louis and his odyssey in outer space, and a pharmacist who packs an entire life into a box of medicine. 

Man standing in front of a blue door
Matteo Terzaghi © privat

Matteo Terzaghi, born 1970 in Bellinzona, studied philosophy and subsequently published several books on artists. He currently writes essays and prose texts. For Il manuale del fosforo e dei fiammiferi he received an honorary award of the Martin Bodmer foundation in connection with the 2024 Gottfried Keller prize. Amt für Lichtbildprojektion (2015) and Die Erde und ihr Trabant (2019) are German translations of his works by Barbara Sauser, published by verlag die brotsuppe.

Accent
Swiss literature in Italian
Tba

Thursday, 17 Oct., 14:00-15:00

Performance
The only good idea is no idea. Video-poetry-sound-lecture
Marko Miladinović

Thursday, 17 Oct., 15:30-16:00

Marko Miladinović, infamous as a ‘poet of self-transcendence' and ‘La mala leche de mejores monologistas’, has spent the last five year conducting poetic research, which has just been published under title libro massimo di poesia – Swiss Italian ex-Yugoslavian not (yet) poetry sketches book & superulterior (Agenzia X, 2024). In the only good idea is no idea, he will present a summary of his poetic research.

Portrait of a man in a brown suit in front of a brown background
Marko Miladinovic © Michela di Savino

Marko Miladinović, born in Vukovar in 1988, is an author and cultural worker living in Lugano. He frequently works in sound and video poetry. He is a member of the Associazione Idra and curates numerous cultural event, including the Ticino Poetry (slam) and workshops. He founded the band Amiata and published L'umanità gentile (Miraggi Ed. 2017) and Libro massimo di poesia (Agenzia X 2024). 

‘Literatur Parade’ apéro with readings and music
Pro Helvetia, Frankfurter Buchmesse, Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino, SBVV, Goethe-Institut, Litrix.de, Read Parade

Thursday, 17 Oct., 17:00-18:00

Apéro with readings and music, following the programme ‘Literatur Parade. Gastsprache Deutsch #SalTo24’, which took place as part of the Turin International Book Fair (Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino). The apéro is dedicated to the exchange of German and Italian-language literature. 

Short readings by Charlotte Gneuss, Shelly Kupferberg, Vincenzo Latronico, Marko Miladinović and Igiaba Scego. 

Opening toasts by Annalena Benini, Director of the Turin International Book Fair, Imke Buhre, Senior Manager International Projects of the Frankfurt Book Fair, and Reina Gehrig, Head of Literature at the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. 

Moderation: Tom Müller (Tropen Verlag / Read Parade) 

Music by DJ Furia

Book yoga
Karina Goldberg

Daily 09:30-10:00

The daily book yoga session led by Karina Goldberg is a perfect opportunity to build up energy for the day in a playful way. Book fair days can be long and intense, so how to best prepare oneself physically and mentally? We train our feet for the long walks around the fair premises, train our back for successful negotiations, and open our heart for numerous encounters and stories. During these morning warm-up sessions, we always have a loyal companion with us – our current favourite book.  

Karina Goldberg © Karina Goldberg

Karina Goldberg was born 1981 in Buenos Aires and lives in Frankfurt. She has been accompanying the literature and cultural programme of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s guest countries for 12 years and teaching yoga since 2018.

Short reading
Ilaria ou la conquête de la désobéissance, Gabriella Zalapì

Friday, 18 Oct., 10:30-11:00

A short reading from the novel Ilaria ou la conquête de la désobéissance (Les éditions Zoé, 2024) by Gabriella Zalapì, in French with German translation. In May 1980, eight-year-old Ilaria gets into his father’s car outside her school. A long odyssey takes them to motorway service stations and small hotels. Thinking about her mother, Ilaria resolves never to cry again. She learns how to drive a car and how to lie, and experiences the cities of Triest and Bologna, a boarding school in Rome, and sun-drenched farming life in Sicily. The kidnapping almost turns into a normal childhood. Told in a fast-paced and yet precise language, this is the story of a child that is forced to make her way through life on her own.

Portrait of a woman in muted colors
Gabriela Zalapi © Roman Lusser_éditions Zoé

Gabriella Zalapì, born in Milan, has Italian, British and Swiss roots. She studied at the Haute école d'art et de design in Geneva and now works as a visual artist and author in Paris. Her first novel Antonia (Les éditions Zoé, 2019) won the Grand Prix de l'héroïne Madame Figaro and the Prix Bibliomedia and was translated into German by Claudia Steinitz, published by Rotpunktverlag in 2020.

OFFside expedition
A philosophical audio-guided stroll to lesser-known reading spaces  
André Ourednik

Friday, 18 Oct., 11:30-12:00
Saturday, 19 Oct., 13:30-14:00 and 17:00-17:30
Sunday, 20. Oct., 13:30-14:00

Portrait of a man with glasses
André Ourednik © Yves Leresche

Swiss author, geographer and data analyst André Ourednik invites visitors join his stroll to lesser-known reaches and corners of the book fair. Combined with philosophical and poetic input, participants come to see book fair activities in a new light. The expedition offers space to listen and reflect on reading, communicating, language in general and being a book person.   

Prior registration is possible directly at the OFF Stage Switzerland stage in Hall 3.1 F122.

Short reading
Frankfurter Seilschaften 2024 – literature by emerging authors from Switzerland 
Minda Deol, Maya Olah, Anja Schmitter, Valeska Maria Stach, Maria-Lusie Tzikas, Tanja Arx

Friday, 18 Oct., 13:00-13:30

The ‘Frankfurter Seilschaften’ mentoring programme supports six emerging authors from Switzerland to become familiarised with book fair procedures and to forge contacts with literature industry professionals. In order that the literary industry can get to know the works of these authors, Minda Deol, Maya Olah, Anja Schmitter, Valeska Maria Stach, Maria-Lusie Tzikas and Tanja Arx will offer insights into their work-in-progress through short readings. ‘Frankfurter Seilschaften’ is a cooperation project of the Swiss authors’ association A*dS and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

Portrait of a woman
Minda Deol © CJK

In her work, Minda Deol explores the complexity of perspectives and time levels. She takes a critical look at her family history, which is characterised by migration, and the associated power structures. As an assistant at a research institute, she financed her studies at the Swiss Literature Institute in Biel/Bienne, from which she graduated in 2024. Her creative spectrum includes prose, scenic texts, literary reports and screenplays.

Portrait of a woman
Maya Olah © Flavio Karrer

Maya Olah, (she/her), studied German linguistics, literature and ethnology in Zurich and Vienna. She writes prose and develops concepts and texts for audio formats and performances. Bailando Bailando. Ein Totentanz is the title of the collection published in 2023. In 2024, she received the St. Gallen Cultural Foundation Award. She lives in Zurich and is writing her first novel.

Portrait of a woman
Anja Schmitter © Gregory Hari

After studying German and comparative literature in Zurich, Bordeaux and Vienna, Anja Schmitter studied Literary Writing at the Bern Academy of the Arts. She worked as an author at a prison theatre and as a dramaturge at the See-Burgtheater in Kreuzlingen. She currently lives in Zurich and Tbilisi and writes fiction and literary reportage. Her first novel Leoparda was published in 2022. 

Portrait of a woman
Valeska Marina Stach © Nicole Urbschat

Valeska Marina Stach (born in Berlin in 1993) has lived in Basel since 2020 and is writing her new novel for her prose debut. She is interested in the breath of the big city and how real stories can be invented. She studied literary writing in Biel/Bienne and Bern until summer 2023. She then received scholarships from the workshop for young literature in Graz and the 27th Klagenfurt Literature Course. 

Portrait of a woman
Maria-Lusie Tzikas © Marcia Kempf

Maria-Lusie Tzikas (she/her) was born in Zurich in 1999. She writes, photographs and performs. She grew up with German, Russian and Greek as her mother and father tongues. The multilingualism and words that do not exist in other languages or that cannot be translated echo through her work. With simplicity and bittersweet humour, she plays with form, body and irritation. She completed her bachelor's degree at the Swiss Literature Institute in 2023 and is currently studying for a master's degree in Contemporary Art Practice and is supported by the Dramenprozessor 24/25.

Portrait of a woman
Tanja Arx © Adna Ruhotina

Tanja Arx, born in Feldbach, Austria, in 1992, studied visual arts, followed by teaching. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Swiss Literature Institute in 2024. First publications of her work can be found on Deutschlandfunk Kultur, various literary magazines and staged readings at the Basel and Leipzig theatres. She received a work grant from the Canton of Basel for her unpublished debut novel Zwischen Haut und Himmel.

Performance
'Robopoiesen'. The artificial intelligences of nature and LLM chimera 
André Ourednik

Friday, 18 Oct., 13:45-14:30

Since time immemorial, language has enabled humans to communicate beyond the bare necessities of life. It allows us to make comparisons and to develop ideas and collective thinking. Large language models (LLM), such as ChatGPT, represent an extension of these human processes. In Robopoïèses, a performance by André Ourednik, poetry meets integrated circuits, embedded in a sound landscape created by sound designer Daniel Maszkowicz. The role of artificial intelligence is reflected in people’s attitude towards nature and their shaping of it, and this becomes increasingly disconcerting. Generative algorithms take control of human creations and transform them into eerie chimera – before these in turn are recaptured by human performers. 

Portrait of a man with glasses
André Ourednik © Yves Leresche

André Ourednik is an author, essay writer, geographer and data analyst who teaches at EPFL and the University of Neuchâtel. Inspired by the permeability between science and literature and equally fascinated by and critical of technological possibilities, he has published a number of books including Wikitractatus (2014), Omniscience (2017), Hypertopie (2019) and Robopoïèses (2024). His books have generated performances, conferences and urban installations.

Accent
Generative AI, fair and humane – is that possible? 
Nicole Pfister Fetz, Nina George, Peter G. Kirchschläger

Friday, 18 Oct., 14:30-15:30

What is known as generative artificial intelligence is based on copyright infringements, and its so-called ‘intelligence’ is merely simulated by the underlying technology. This is the gist of critical opinions that are becoming increasingly widespread. In a discussion with Nicole Pfister Fetz, Secretary General of the European Writers’ Council (EWC), Professor Peter G. Kirchschläger, Professor of Ethics and Director of the Institute of Social Ethics ISE at the University of Lucerne and Visiting Professor at ETH Zurich, and Nina George, international bestseller author and Commissioner for Political Affairs at the EWC, talk about the kind of internationally recognised rules that would be necessary to combat exploitation and intellectual disempowerment through ChatGPT and the likes. 

Portrait of a man
Peter Kirchschläger © Universität Luzern

Peter G. Kirchschläger is Professor of Ethics and Director of the Institute of Social Ethics ISE at the University of Lucerne and Visiting Professor of Neuroinformatics and Neural Systems at ETH Zurich and the ETH AI Center. He is also a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein. Before that, he was a Visiting Fellow at Yale University from 2015 to 2017. 

Woman sitting in front of a bookshelf
Nina George © Julia Baier

Nina George is a journalist, author and translator as well as President of Honor and Commissioner for Political Affairs at the EWC, with special emphasis on copyright law and digitalisation. Her New York Times bestseller The Little Paris Bookshop has been translated into 37 languages. 

Portrait of a woman in front of a silver and pink glitter curtain
Nicole Pfister-Fetz © privat

Nicole Pfister Fetz is an art historian, a cultural lobbyist and Secretary-General of the European Writers’ Council (EWC). Prior to this, she was director of the Swiss authors’ association A*dS (Autorinnen und Autoren der Schweiz), president of Suisseculture Sociale, and a board member of both Suisseculture and the intellectual property right society ProLitteris. She is also a guest lecturer for cultural lobbying at the University of Basel.

Accent
Career goal: translating literature – is that (still) possible?  
Discussion and networking meeting 
Boris Kenov, Alexander Sitzmann, TRADUKI

Friday, 18 Oct., 16:00-17:00

The TRADUKI network promotes literary translations from and into Southeast European languages. Key to the project are translators for whose activity there is no ‘normal’ education or training. Angelika Salvisberg (TRADUKI) talks to two translators who both – albeit not exclusively – translate Bulgarian literature into German. One is Alexander Sitzmann, whose work includes a German translation of Georgi Gospodinov’s award-winning novel Zeitzuflucht (Time Shelter), the other is Boris Kenov, recipient of the 2023 Goldschmidt programme grant for literary translators. The talk focuses on the profession’s outlook and the specific challenges of translating into or from ’minor’ languages. 

Following the discussion, TRADUKI and the Frankfurt Book Fair invite attendees to a glass of wine and provide time and space for encounters among professionals and those who would like to become one.

No registration is required. We look forward to seeing you and to some lively exchanges.  

Portrait of a man in an office
Boris Kenov © ZVG

Boris Kenov was born in Basel in 1993 and lives in Geneva. He translates from French, English and Bulgarian into German, with a special interest in the interaction between words and images. After taking introductory courses in design at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, he studied multilingual communication and translation in Canterbury and Geneva. He received the 2023 Goldschmidt programme grant for literary translators.  

Black and white portrait of a man
Alexander Sitzmann © privat

Alexander Sitzmann, born 1974 in Stuttgart, graduated in Scandinavian Studies and Slavonic Studies at the University of Vienna, where he currently teaches and conducts research. He has been translating from English, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Scandinavian languages since 1999. In 2004 he received, among other prizes, an honorary award from the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture and in 2016 he was granted the Austrian state prize for literary translation. 

Portrait of a woman
Angelika Salvisberg © TRADUKI

Book yoga
Karina Goldberg

Daily 09:30-10:00

The daily book yoga session led by Karina Goldberg is a perfect opportunity to build up energy for the day in a playful way. Book fair days can be long and intense, so how to best prepare oneself physically and mentally? We train our feet for the long walks around the fair premises, train our back for successful negotiations, and open our heart for numerous encounters and stories. During these morning warm-up sessions, we always have a loyal companion with us – our current favourite book.  

Karina Goldberg © Karina Goldberg

Karina Goldberg was born 1981 in Buenos Aires and lives in Frankfurt. She has been accompanying the literature and cultural programme of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s guest countries for 12 years and teaching yoga since 2018.

Short reading
Seinetwegen, Zora del Buono

Saturday, 19 Oct., 10:30-11:00

A short reading by Zora del Buono from Seinetwegen (C.H. Beck, 2024). In 1963, Zora del Buono was eight months old when her father died in a car accident. Her deceased father left a big void in the family. Having turned 60 in the meantime, the author asks herself how E.T., who caused the accident, lived with this guilt all those years. Seinetwegen (because of him) is a research-based novel in which the author tries to track down E.T. and finds answers that lead to new questions. An artfully constructed and thrilling quest for truth.  

Portrait of a woman
Zora del Buono © Stefan Bohrer

Zora del Buono was born in Zurich in 1962. She studied architecture at ETH Zurich and worked as a construction site manager in Berlin for five years after the fall of the wall. She is a founding member and cultural editor of the magazine mare. Her novel Seinetwegen has been longlisted for the German Book Award 2024.

Workshop
Comic translation workshop: Kumusta ka? Who doesn’t understand Tagalog? 
Annette Hug

Saturday, 19 Oct., 11:30-12:30

Comics from Manila use a spoken language that couldn’t be more hybrid. Everyone can follow one way or another. In her workshop, Annette Hug introduces participants to the sound of an Asian metropolis. 

Listening to Tagalog, you might catch some Spanish words and some English phrases, while the dominant part of Manila speech is of Austronesian origin and related to Indonesian. Comics, however, reflect the hybrid language used in the Philippine capital. With short translation exercises, Annette Hug invites participants to delve into this linguistic mix. Via key words, sentences, figures and poems, we get a notion of the humour that helps Manila’s youth to cope with the challenges of the city’s postcolonial reality. The workshop offers a foretaste of the literature that will be showcased in 2025 with the Philippines as the guest of honour. 

Portrait of a woman
Annette Hug © Florian Bachmann

Annette Hug was born in 1970 and graduated in History and Women and Development Studies in Zurich and Manila. After working as a lecturer and a trade union secretary, she is now an author and freelance translator from Tagalog in Zurich. She received the Swiss Book Award 2017 for her novel Wilhelm Tell in Manila and the Schiller Prize of the Zürcher Kantonalbank for the novel Tiefenlager in 2022. Her translation of the poetry collection Offenes Meer by Philippine author Luna Sicat Cleto was published by Edition Tincatinca in 2024.

Short reading
Offenes Meer, Luna Sicat Cleto

Saturday, 19 Oct., 12:30-13:00

A special moment in the history of translation into German and a foretaste of the Philippines as next year’s guest of honour: Luna Sicat Cleto and her translator Annette Hug introduce the volume of poems entitled Offenes Meer (open sea), the first-ever German translation of a literary work written in Tagalog. A Philippine poet finds her voice in-between waves and fire, washing up and shopping, a talking monitor lizard and the comfort of rain; a voice, however, that is not always the same. Luna Sicat Cleto’s poems reflect thirty years of history and open a door for present-day Philippine poetry. They offer political and personal insights, such as growing up in the long years of the Marcos dictatorship or her relationship to her father, the poet Rogelio Sicat. Just like the sea mentioned in the title, the texts are in constant motion. 

Portrait of a woman
Luna Sicat Cleto © Giano Ray Potes

Luna Sicat Cleto, born in 1967, is a Philippine author, publisher and professor of creative writing. Besides poems and essays, she has published two novels, Makinilyang Altar (2002) and Mga Prodigal (2010), after beginning her literary career as a playwright. She has received numerous awards for her work. Her volume of poems Offenes Meer was translated into German by Annette Hug and published by Edition Tincatinca in 2024.  

Portrait of a woman
Annette Hug © Florian Bachmann

Annette Hug was born in 1970 and graduated in History and Women and Development Studies in Zurich and Manila. After working as a lecturer and a trade union secretary, she is now an author and freelance translator from Tagalog in Zurich. She received the Swiss Book Award 2017 for her novel Wilhelm Tell in Manila and the Schiller Prize of the Zürcher Kantonalbank for the novel Tiefenlager in 2022. Her translation of the poetry collection Offenes Meer by Philippine author Luna Sicat Cleto was published by Edition Tincatinca in 2024.

OFFside expedition
A philosophical audio-guided stroll to lesser-known reading spaces  
André Ourednik

Friday, 18 Oct., 11:30-12:00
Saturday, 19 Oct., 13:30-14:00 and 17:00-17:30
Sunday, 20. Oct., 13:30-14:00

Portrait of a man with glasses
André Ourednik © Yves Leresche

Swiss author, geographer and data analyst André Ourednik invites visitors join his stroll to lesser-known reaches and corners of the book fair. Combined with philosophical and poetic input, participants come to see book fair activities in a new light. The expedition offers space to listen and reflect on reading, communicating, language in general and being a book person.   

Prior registration is possible directly at the OFF Stage Switzerland stage in Hall 3.1 F122.

Short reading
Short readings by the nominees for the Swiss Book Award 
Zora del Buono, Mariann Bühler, Martin R. Dean, Béla Rothenbühler, Michelle Steinbeck
Live illustration by Lena Studer 

Saturday, 19 Oct., 14:30-15:00

Who will succeed Christian Haller, Kim de l'Horizon or Martina Clavadetscher? The Schweizer Buchhandels- und Verlags-Verband (SBVV) and the LiteraturBasel association are awarding the Swiss Book Award for the 16th time. The nominees for the Swiss Book Award give an insight into their works in short readings. Illustrator Lena Studer will be drawing live. 

Zora del Buono, Seinetwegen (C.H. Beck)

Portrait of a woman
Zora del Buono © Stefan Bohrer

Zora del Buono was born in Zurich in 1962. She studied architecture at ETH Zurich and worked as a construction site manager in Berlin for five years after the fall of the wall. She is a founding member and cultural editor of the magazine mare. Her novel Seinetwegen has been longlisted for the German Book Award 2024. 

Mariann Bühler, Verschiebung im Geisten (Atlantis Verlag)

Portrait of a woman
Mariann Bühler © Ayse Yavas 2024

Mariann Bühler, born in 1982 in Central Switzerland, is an author, literary mediator and event organiser. She was honoured for her literary work with a grant from the Basel Literature Committee and the Central Switzerland Literature Fund. Verschiebung im Gestein is her debut. She lives in Basel. 

Martin R. Dean, Tabak und Schokolade (Atlantis Verlag)

Portrait of a man
Martin R. Dean © Sonja Maria Schobinger

Martin R. Dean was born in 1955 in Menziken, Aargau, to a father from Trinidad and a mother from Switzerland. He studied German, ethnology and philosophy at the University of Basel and taught at the Basel School of Design and at the Muttenz Gymnasium. His most recently published works include Meine Väter (new edition 2023) and Ein Stück Himmel (2022). He lives in Basel. 

Béla Rothenbühler, Polifon Pervers (Der gesunde Menschenversand)

Portrait of a man
Béla Rothenbühler © Marco Sieber

Béla Rothenbühler was born 1990 in Reussbühl. He is a freelance playwright, author, singer, guitarist, fundraiser and cultural committee member. Since 2016, he is part of the independent theatre collective Fetter Vetter & Oma Hommage. 

Michelle Steinbeck, Favorita (Park X Ullstein Verlag)

Portrait of a woman
Michelle Steinbeck © Yves Bachmann

Michelle Steinbeck, born in 1990, grew up in Zurich and writes prose, poetry and for theatres, magazines and newspapers. Her debut Mein Vater war ein Mann an Land und im Wasser ein Walfisch was nominated for the Swiss and German Book Awards. She lives in Basel. 

Short reading
Books for young and old: Das Dorf der Steine and Pankoland 
Lena Studer, Eva Roth, Lawrence Schimel

Saturday, 19 Oct., 15:30-16:00

A short reading by author and translator Eva Roth, illustrator Lena Studer and author Lawrence Schimel.  

Lawrence Schimel’s book Hablan las piedras was translated from Spanish into German by Eva Roth with illustrations by Lena Studer and published under the title Das Dorf der Steine (Atlantis, 2024). Sonja misses her deceased uncle Fred. She often visits him at his grave, where she makes friends with Martin, the gardener. On touching Fred’s tombstone, she discovers that she is able to read the name on the stone with her fingertips - and soon also names on other stones, which opens up a whole new world for Sonja. 

A world opens up for Clemens, too, in Eva Roth’s novel Pankoland (Atlantis, 2024), but before this happens, he needs to survive several adventures. Strict rules apply in Pankoland, and everything is monitored closely. At a first glance, this makes sense, since the whole society is built on the principle of self-sufficiency. But strange things happen at night, which Clemens’ older brother Fredo seems to know about. Things start heating up when Fredo asks Clemens to smuggle a package out of Pankoland. Clemens has to defend himself and then flee, learning in the process that Pankoland is only a small part in a big, wide world. 

Black and white portrait of a woman
Eva Roth © Juerg Obrist

Eva Roth, born in 1974, writes fiction and theatre pieces for both children and adults. She was initially a teacher and then an editor/proofreader and translator of children’s books. Today she focuses mainly on creative writing and has won several awards for her books. She lives in Zurich with her family.  

Black and white portrait of a woman
Lena Studer © privat

Lena Studer was born in 1998. After graduating in Illustration Fiction at the University of Lucerne, she now works as a freelance illustrator in Basel. Her work reflects her love of colour, human relations and nature. 

Black and white portrait of a man
Lawrence Schimel © privat

Lawrence Schimel, born in 1971, is a professional translator, author and editor/proofreader. He writes both in Spanish and English and lives in Madrid. He has published over 130 books, which have been translated into over 60 languages.

Workshop
Fantastic plants – illustration workshop 
Lena Studer, Eva Roth

Saturday, 19 Oct., 16:00-17:00

Who is familiar with a herb called snake’s mouth? Or a feather heart lily? Both in nature and our imagination, diversity is limitless. The workshop run by illustrator Lena Studer and writer Eva Roth is full of multicoloured plants and wild stories. Together they give rise to a fantastic herbarium. The workshop also includes a brief introduction to Neocolor technique. 

Black and white portrait of a woman
Eva Roth © Juerg Obrist

Eva Roth, born in 1974, writes fiction and theatre pieces for both children and adults. She was initially a teacher and then an editor/proofreader and translator of children’s books. Today she focuses mainly on creative writing and has won several awards for her books. She lives in Zurich with her family.  

Black and white portrait of a woman
Lena Studer © privat

Lena Studer was born in 1998. After graduating in Illustration Fiction at the University of Lucerne, she now works as a freelance illustrator in Basel. Her work reflects her love of colour, human relations and nature.

OFFside expedition
A philosophical audio-guided stroll to lesser-known reading spaces  
André Ourednik

Friday, 18 Oct., 11:30-12:00
Saturday, 19 Oct., 13:30-14:00 and 17:00-17:30
Sunday, 20. Oct., 13:30-14:00

Portrait of a man with glasses
André Ourednik © Yves Leresche

Swiss author, geographer and data analyst André Ourednik invites visitors join his stroll to lesser-known reaches and corners of the book fair. Combined with philosophical and poetic input, participants come to see book fair activities in a new light. The expedition offers space to listen and reflect on reading, communicating, language in general and being a book person.   

Prior registration is possible directly at the OFF Stage Switzerland stage in Hall 3.1 F122.

Book yoga
Karina Goldberg

Daily 09:30-10:00

The daily book yoga session led by Karina Goldberg is a perfect opportunity to build up energy for the day in a playful way. Book fair days can be long and intense, so how to best prepare oneself physically and mentally? We train our feet for the long walks around the fair premises, train our back for successful negotiations, and open our heart for numerous encounters and stories. During these morning warm-up sessions, we always have a loyal companion with us – our current favourite book.  

Karina Goldberg © Karina Goldberg

Karina Goldberg was born 1981 in Buenos Aires and lives in Frankfurt. She has been accompanying the literature and cultural programme of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s guest countries for 12 years and teaching yoga since 2018.

Short reading
Franz Hohler & friends, live drawing by MarieMo

Sunday, 20 Oct., 10:30-11:00

An event in praise of friendship. Franz Hohler wouldn’t be the person he is without the people he has had deep encounters within the course of his life. Franz Hohler & friends is a collection of personal portraits of such companions along the way, including Wolf Biermann, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Gardi Hutter and Mani Matter. The portraits come in the form of short narratives, songs, poems, hymns and farewells. They are snapshots that try to encapsulate the essentials, full of affection and a sense of what they have in common. They also reflect key topics in Franz Hohler’s life and oeuvre: language, music, a sense of the absurd and the abysses under the surface of everyday life, as well as political commitment in stormy times.  

Portrait of an older man in a forest
Franz Hohler © Christian Altorfer

Franz Hohler was born in Biel, Switzerland, in 1943. He now lives in Zurich and isconsidered one of Switzerland’s most important storytellers. . He has won numerous prizes, including the Alice Salomon Poetics Prize and the Johann Peter Hebel Prize. For the past fifty years, his work has been published by Luchterhand Literaturverlag. 

Photograph of a woman in a small boat seen through the window
MarieMo © ZVG

MarieMo is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator with a passion for comics and screen printing. Inspired by travelling, nature and drawing, she moves in a creative world of illustrating, story-telling and publishing, which includes being part of the Swiss female comic writer collective La Bûche. Concerned about the state of our planet, she combines artistic projects with a commitment to a viable ecological and social future. 

Short reading
Pied-à-terre, MarieMo

Sunday, 20 Oct., 11:30-12:00

A short reading in French and German, together with illustrator Marie-Morgane Adatte. In February 2023, artist MarieMo joined the crew on the Ocean Viking, a ship belonging to the organisation SOS Méditerranée, for a 25-day rescue mission. During the voyage she documented their life on board and the activities of the mission’s members in a logbook with texts and drawings. This led to the graphic novel Pied-à-terre, which deals with the topics of migration and rescue missions in the Mediterranean in a documentary-like fashion.  

Photograph of a woman in a small boat seen through the window
MarieMo © ZVG

MarieMo is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator with a passion for comics and screen printing. Inspired by travelling, nature and drawing, she moves in a creative world of illustrating, story-telling and publishing, which includes being part of the Swiss female comic writer collective La Bûche. Concerned about the state of our planet, she combines artistic projects with a commitment to a viable ecological and social future.

Workshop
Writing what you want, for whom you want, how you want to – fanzine 
MarieMo

Sunday, 20 Oct., 12:00-13:00

MarieMo shows how you can create a fanzine on any topic you want with little material and simple folding techniques. Unlike comics, which are known for their precise narrative and structural codes, fanzines are not subject to any rules. You write what you want, for whom you want and how you want to. You don’t need a printer, don’t need to be able to draw well and, in particular, don’t need a publisher. 

Photograph of a woman in a small boat seen through the window
MarieMo © ZVG

MarieMo is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator with a passion for comics and screen printing. Inspired by travelling, nature and drawing, she moves in a creative world of illustrating, story-telling and publishing, which includes being part of the Swiss female comic writer collective La Bûche. Concerned about the state of our planet, she combines artistic projects with a commitment to a viable ecological and social future.

OFFside expedition
A philosophical audio-guided stroll to lesser-known reading spaces  
André Ourednik

Friday, 18 Oct., 11:30-12:00
Saturday, 19 Oct., 13:30-14:00 and 17:00-17:30
Sunday, 20. Oct., 13:30-14:00

Portrait of a man with glasses
André Ourednik © Yves Leresche

Swiss author, geographer and data analyst André Ourednik invites visitors join his stroll to lesser-known reaches and corners of the book fair. Combined with philosophical and poetic input, participants come to see book fair activities in a new light. The expedition offers space to listen and reflect on reading, communicating, language in general and being a book person.   

Prior registration is possible directly at the OFF Stage Switzerland stage in Hall 3.1 F122.