Contemporary German Voices
With Ulrike Sandig, Durs Grünbein, Don Paterson and Karen Leeder (36 mins)
In Episode 3 we take you on our own German cultural exchange through poetry.
The podcast brings together themes and perspectives from our Contemporary German Voices series of live poetry events, which saw Poet in the City, in collaboration with TORCH Knowledge Exchange Fellow, Professor Karen Leeder from Oxford University, bring two of Germany’s best contemporary poetry voices to UK audiences.
As well as showcasing the work of brilliant German poets Durs Grünbein and Ulrike Almut Sandig, the podcast features live poetry performance and commentary from guests including the award-winning UK poet Don Paterson.
With the spotlight on Germany, we’ll be finding out about all night poetry festivals in Berlin, how a Grimms fairy story gets turned into electrifying sound-art, looking at the influence of Rainer Maria Rilke on contemporary British poets, investigating the art and craft behind translation, and myth-busting the idea that German poets classically tend to be philosophical, inward looking and soul-searching.
Hear Alia Cassam's podcast German Voices
Intro music: ‘Europa Geht Durch Mich’ by Manic Street Preachers feat. Nina Hoss – from the album Futurology (2014)
All other music taken from the album MÄRZWALD by Ulrike Almut Sandig and Marlen Pelny © Schöffling & Co, Frankfurt am Main 2011
Live footage from Richmix 22.02.15 and Keats House 12.05.15. Audio recordings copyright © The British Library Board