Don't mind the Gap – German-British Encounters

Spring Meeting in London

More than sixty of the most distinguished writers and scholars from Germany and from other European countries will meet from May 13 to May 16 for an intense program together with their British colleagues. The following events will be held during the period:

The Conference will be inaugurated by honouring a distinguished personality of British cultural life, who has made an extraordinary contribution to mutual understanding between Germany and the UK: Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, whose recent exhibition »Germany: Memories of a Nation« presented a bold, more open view of Germany, will be awarded the »Friedrich-Gundolf-Preis für die Vermittlung deutscher Kultur im Ausland« (Prize for German culture abroad). Another distinguished personality, Anne Birkenhauer, will receive the »Johann-Heinrich-Voß-Preis für Übersetzung« (Prize for Translation) in recognition for her efforts to make Hebrew literature accessible. Both prizes are awarded every year at the Spring Conference of Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung.
>13.5.2015 Award Ceremony, The British Academy (10-11 Carlton House Terrace), 6.30 pm, languages: EN/DE
By invitation only

'Exile' will be the topic that Academy members and their colleagues from the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies of the University of London will deal with for a whole day: Current research on German-speaking emigrants who fled from the Nazis to England after 1933 due to their artistic work, political convictions or origin will be as much a focus area at the event as the highly-charged issue of exile in the face of present-day conflicts.
>14.5.2015 Exile, Reform Club (104 Pall MallW), starting at 2 pm, language: EN
pl. register with 

Two scintillating public events bring together some of the best poets and novelists from the UK and Germany: The event on Friday will deal with how to do justice to the meanings in poetry in translation and explores the joys of working with one’s native tongue and a foreign language: Jamie McKendrick, Michael Hofmann and Jan Wagner will talk about being a poet and translating, and how the two activities inspire and enrich their work. This event will be held in partnership with Institute of Contemporary Arts and Goethe-Institut London.
>15.5.2015 Found in Translation: On writing and translating poetry, Institute of Contemporary Arts (The Mall), 6.30 pm, language: EN
tickets from https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/found-translation-contemporary-poets-discuss-translation

The event on saturday (the concluding event of the Conference) will be a literary encounter between eight authors who are amongst the principal voices of contemporary British and German literature, a vibrant mixture of poetry and prose with: Simon Armitage, Marcel Beyer, Alfred Brendel, Durs Grünbein, A. L. Kennedy, Terézia Mora, Don Paterson and Imtiaz Dharker. This event will be held in partnership with Goethe-Institut London and the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, Queen Mary University of London.
>16.5.2015 Don't mind the Gap – An Evening on British and German Literature, Kings Place (90 York Way), 7:30 pm, languages: DE/EN
tickets from http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on-book-tickets/spoken-word/dont-mind-the-gap-an-evening-on-british-and-german-literature