As readers of this blog might be able to deduce, I wear many hats. I recently wrote about one of them: teaching translation at Leipzig University. I love teaching and one of the advantages of the university context is the chance to go slow, have plenty of repetition, and get into depth on a variety…
Although the hubbub was over several weeks ago, it’s still important to let you in on one of the biggest cultural events in Leipzig. But before I can explain what a Rundgang is, I ought to start by giving you a quick primer on the Baumwollspinnerei. Founded in 1884, the Leipzig Cotton Mill quickly b…
Everyone loves a good play. One of my first cultural experiences in Germany was a survey course on contemporary German theater, and we attended six productions in Marburg and Frankfurt. Since then I’ve made it a priority to see at least on play every season (not very much, I know, but life gets b…
For those readers who don’t happen to live or have studied in Germany, you may be surprised to hear a new semester was kicked off this week. Here the academic year is divided into two semesters, both with 15 weeks of classes: the so-called Wintersemester from early October to early February and the S…
The Germans have a certain fondness for inventing English words that wouldn’t otherwise exist. The word Handy (for cell or mobile phone) might be the most well-known example of this kind of pseudo-Anglicism. When Julia Wolf suggested my family and I come over for Easter, I immediately thought of t…
Happy Pub Day! For those readers who do not work in books might not be completely aware what "pub day" means. Essentially, it's like a book's birthday – not when the book was printed, but the date on which a particular book is officially published and available to the public. Of course, t…
Many of readers not based in Germany might be slightly surprised at what a phenomenon Philipp Winkler's debut novel, Hool, was when it hit the shelves in Germany at the summer of 2016. While there are certainly exceptions that could be named, most notibly Clemens Meyer, contemporary German…
For many people, the book fair is less about going to the trade fair, visiting stands, looking at books, listening to panels, and attending readings. It's more about seeing friends and going to parties. Many of the reading in the evening seamlessly moving into an open-ended party and it's all too…