Program / lit.COLOGNE 25 List of all events

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List of all events

Angela Merkel served as Chancellor of Germany for 16 years, guiding the country through numerous crises and shaping German and international politics with her positioning and actions. In her memoirs,… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Angela Merkel: Freedom

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 16 December 2024
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Colum McCann ist ein bemerkenswerter Geschichtenerzähler und wurde für seine Bücher („Die große Welt“, „Apeirogon“) bereits mit zahlreichen Preisen ausgezeichnet. In seinem neuer Roman Twist zeigt sich der ir… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Twist – Colum McCann über eine Eskalation auf Hoher See

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 13 March 2025
  • Time: 19:30
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

Alle Details & Tickets gibt es ab dem 14. Februar hier und auf Instagram @lit.cologne.pop

Kultur verbindet Fiktion und Realität, gibt Ideen und Anstoß, hinterfragt, macht sichtbar und lässt fühlen – die 3. Ausgabe der lit.COLOGNE POP präsentiert Literatur, Diskurs, Theater, Musik & analog… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event lit.COLOGNE POP - Samstag

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 15 March 2025
  • Time: 16:30
  • Location: Stadtgarten
  • Accessibility
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • Rollstuhlgerechter Zugang + WC (JAKI Club nicht barrierefrei) Available

Alle Details & Tickets gibt es ab dem 14. Februar hier und auf Instagram @lit.cologne.pop

Kultur verbindet Fiktion und Realität, gibt Ideen und Anstoß, hinterfragt, macht sichtbar und lässt fühlen – die 3. Ausgabe der lit.COLOGNE POP präsentiert Literatur, Diskurs, Theater, Musik & analog… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event lit.COLOGNE POP - Sonntag

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 16 March 2025
  • Time: 16:00
  • Location: Stadtgarten
  • Accessibility
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • Rollstuhlgerechter Zugang + WC (JAKI Club nicht barrierefrei) Available

For his 2006 international bestselling book “Gomorrah”, Roberto Saviano spent years undercover investigating the structures and machinations of the Camorra crime clan. The publication of the book bro… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Loyalty, love, desire and betrayal – Roberto Saviano and Barbara Auer on women in the Mafia

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 17 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • Italian
    • German

On November 2, 2020, Caroline Darian, daughter of Gisèle and Dominique Pelicot, received a phone call from the police: Her father had been arrested. Since 2013, Pelicot had been secretly drugging his … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The shame needs to change sides – with Caroline Darian and Sandrine Mittelstädt

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 17 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • French
    • German

In englischer Sprache

In 1992, a largely unknown young writer called Nick Hornby published his debut work in England, launching his career as an international bestselling author. In Fever Pitch, he described not only his… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Fever Pitch – Nick Hornby on the most important soccer book of all time

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 17 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English

London in the early days of the Second World War: Simon Batley wants nothing more to do with the British Secret Service. He worked for them years ago, naïve and undercover, while studying physics in … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Steffen Kopetzky: Atom – the hunt for a catastrophic technology and the search for a vanished lover

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 18 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

As the last witnesses and survivors reach the ends of their lives, we stand at a turning point in our memory of the Holocaust. It is therefore all the more important that voices such as József … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Cold Crematorium – Carolin Emcke und Lena Gorelik on the work of József Debreczeni, accompanied by Anja Lechner on violoncello

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 18 March 2025
  • Time: 17:30
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Not only was Christian Streich a successful coach for the soccer club SC Freiburg for more than 20 years, he also became a moral institution. He repeatedly spoke out against racism and… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Christian Streich on the books of his life

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 18 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Good female friendships are something to be envied, as German songwriter Funny van Dannen sings in “Freundinnen müsste man sein!” Literature is also full of great female friendships – wild, intell… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Female friendships on the page – with Annette Frier and Maren Kroymann

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 18 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: Theater am Tanzbrunnen
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Live radio show broadcast from WDR Funkhaus, can be heard here: WDR 5, Deutschlandradio, BR 2, HR 2 Kultur, MDR Kultur, SR Kultur, SWR Kultur.

Audiobooks are cinema for the ears. They can enchant us or carry us away – with stories, sound and strong voices. At lit.COLOGNE, we will once again honor the best German productions that have been c… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The German Audiobook Prize 2025

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 18 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Accessibility

Vienna, 2095. For Commissioner Landauer, there’s nothing unusual about a body in the Danube. But this time there are two of them, and what’s worse is that the women are identical down to the last hai… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Eternal life thanks to AI? – Tom Hillenbrand presents his new thriller Thanatopia

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 18 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Julia Schoch is considered to be a “virtuoso of memory storytelling” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). After her bestselling novel “The Couple of the Century”, comes the triumphant final act of her captiva… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Wild about a wild dream – Julia Schoch describes a momentous encounter

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 18 March 2025
  • Time: 20:30
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Das wusste schon Funny van Dannen und schrieb ein Lied über diesen legitimen Neid! Auch die Literatur ist voller großer Frauenfreundschaften – wilder, kluger, sanftmütiger und scharfzüngiger Freun… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event ZUSATZVERANSTALTUNG: „Freundinnen müsste man sein!“ Mit Annette Frier und Maren Kroymann

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 18 March 2025
  • Time: 20:30
  • Location: Theater am Tanzbrunnen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Values can be quite arbitrary. Our understanding of fairness and justice is influenced by whether we prioritize societal cohesion or the freedom of the individual. Whether we put a price on added… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Values in transition – a compass for the future with Maja Göpel

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 18 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Everyone talks about becoming an adult or nearing the end of your life. But what happens in between? When lots of things, such as whom we love, where we work and how we live, have already been… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event In the midst of life – Barbara Bleisch and Volker Kitz on the time we have left

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 19 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Diese Lesung findet ohne Moderation statt.

He has achieved what most can only dream of: Joachim Meyerhoff is not only an actor who performs on the most renowned stages of German-language theater, he is also a bestselling author. After his… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Joachim Meyerhoff – You Can Also Fall Upwards

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 19 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: Theater am Tanzbrunnen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

The Ruhr coal mining region was the source of Germany’s wealth after World War II. A place where people worked hard and suffered their fates. An environment that spawned a special type of person. It i… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Underground – around the world. With Esther Schweins, Dietmar Bär and Thomas Böhm

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 19 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: Stadthalle Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Édouard Louis became a literary sensation in France with his autobiographical novels and essays (“The End of Eddy”, “Who Killed My Father”). He is especially celebrated for his unsparing self-des… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “I freed myself from your father and thought everything would get better”. With Édouard Louis and Eva Mattes

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 19 March 2025
  • Time: 19:30
  • Location: Schauspiel Köln im DEPOT 1
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • French
    • German

A family from Kyiv sells Russian specialties in Leipzig: vodka, dumplings, SIM cards, nautical shirts – and a vague feeling of Eastern European solidarity. The latter, though, is no longer available f… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Russian specialties – Dmitrij Kapitelman writes about homeland, war and a sense of family

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 19 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Live-Podcast

Buffon-Albtraum trifft Söder-Schreck: Jonas Hector und Fabian Köster leben beide in Köln. In ihrem Podcast Schlag und fertig suchen sie nach weiteren Gemeinsamkeiten. Der ehemalige Fu… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event ZUSATZVERANSTALTUNG: Fabian Köster und Jonas Hector sind Schlag und fertig

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 19 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: Theater am Tanzbrunnen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

In Brooklyn Crime Novel, the incredible storyteller Jonathan Lethem (“Motherless Brooklyn”, “The Fortress of Solitude”) has penned a literary tribute to his neighborhood. With great finesse, he tells the kal… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Brooklyn Crime Novel – Jonathan Lethem and Christiane Paul on the world’s most famous borough

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 20 March 2025
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

Gregor Gysi is a fixture on Germany’s political stage and an opinionated voice shaping the big debates of the post-reunification period. The longtime faction leader of the Left party is famous for h… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Gregor Gysi on the books of his life

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 20 March 2025
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: Stadthalle Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

The literary magazine DAS GRAMM promises great literature in micro-format: Every issue contains a wonderful short story. At this event, three GRAMM authors, Philipp Winkler (“Creep”), Charlotte Gneuß (“Gi… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Pool party or Reutershagen – Philipp Winkler, Charlotte Gneuß and Judith Poznan on the appeal of short stories

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 20 March 2025
  • Time: 19:30
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Grüner Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“[Donald] is everything, he is everybody; he makes the same mistakes that we all make”, said the legendary cartoonist Carl Barks. A magnificent volume, Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Ultimate Histo… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Donald Duck – paying homage to the world’s favorite waterfowl With Daniel Kothenschulte, Andreas Platthaus and Ulrich Schröder

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 20 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

In her shrewdly amusing crime novel You Scratch My Back, bestselling author Petra Hartlieb peers deep into Austria’s political soul. It’s Commissioner Alma Oberkofler’s first week in Vienna and alrea… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event You Scratch My Back – Petra Hartlieb peers deep into Austria’s political soul

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 20 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Thalia Mayersche Köln Neumarkt
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

The key to every good song is good lyrics. That is, after all, why musician Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. The lyrics of Die Fantastischen Vier are a journey through 35 years… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “MfG – Mit freundlichen Grüßen” – Smudo and Thomas D on the lyrics and music of Die Fantastischen Vier

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 20 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Kristallsaal, Congress-Centrum Ost Koelnmesse
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available

Tickets for this event are only available through KölnMusik and at the Theaterkasse am Neumarkt, not through myticket.

For 25 years, we have had the pleasure of inspiring and entertaining Cologne audiences with the greatest authors, the most sensational stage artists, the most captivating actors and the most… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event A night to celebrate and appreciate! The great lit.COLOGNE Gala with Kat Frankie, Olli Dittrich, Sibel Kekilli and Hans Sigl

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 20 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Philharmonie
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available

All-Age-Veranstaltung

The tupodcast is not just a podcast, it is a community for empowerment, education and entertainment. Since 2019, author Tupoka Ogette (“It’s Your Turn: Living a Life Critical of Racism”), Germany’s most pr… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The tupodcast live! Tupoka Ogette, Alice Hasters, Oyindamola Alashe and Celina Bostic and a celebration of solidarity

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 21 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Stadthalle Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Speech-to-text interpreting Available
    • Easy language Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

All-Age-Veranstaltung

Five years ago, the graphic novel “Rocky Beach” gave German fans a taste of what might have become of “The Three Investigators” had the perennially young characters grown up. Now fans can finally read th… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Who is Justus Jonas? Christopher Tauber and Marius Pawlitza on the cult detective from “The Three Investigators” series

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 21 March 2025
  • Time: 17:30
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Alexander Herrmann is one of Germany’s most famous chefs – not least thanks to his appearances on “Kitchen Impossible” or his show “Aufgegabelt”. At his restaurant AURA in the Bavarian town of Wirsberg, w… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Spinning plates: “Fuck normal, I want magic” – a discussion with two-Michelin-star chef Alexander Herrmann

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 21 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

It’s time for the next round of the lit.COLOGNE Debut Prize! Once again, we are seeking the most exciting debut novels published this spring. And the prize? The winner takes home the Silver Pig, d… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Fame and fortune beckon: The lit.COLOGNE Debut Prize 2025 with Martina Behm, Kurt Prödel and Carolin Würfel

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 21 March 2025
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: BALLONI-Hallen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

We live in a day and age that loves arguments. Overheated debates, collapsing governments, social divides: Have we all become a bunch of squabblers? And if so: Is that actually a bad thing? A dispute… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Fight! But do it right. With Svenja Flaßpöhler, Jagoda Marinić and Frank Plasberg

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 21 March 2025
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: Brunosaal
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Hardly any figure in literary history is as closely linked to music as the legendary poet and singer Orpheus. His songs and the sounds of his lyre could tame animals, calm wild seas, move gods and… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event On the trail of Orpheus – with Elke Heidenreich and the WDR Radio Orchestra

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 21 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Die Einfache Sprache ist ästhetisch in die Veranstaltung integriert: Alle gelesenen Texte stammen aus der Feder von Menschen mit Lernschwierigkeiten selbst.

Let the cameras roll! This year, Remix! will take a cinematic turn. Whether it’s “Titanic”, “Lord of the Rings”, “Mary Poppins”, “Robin Hood”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “James Bond”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “50 Shades of… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Lights, camera... Remix! – The sixth edition. With Annette Frier and Michael Kessler, from Cologne to Hollywood!

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 21 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Stadthalle Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Speech-to-text interpreting Available
    • Sign language Available
    • Easy language Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

At a dinner party in 1922, novelist Virginia Woolf meets author and celebrated aristocrat Vita Sackville-West. It is the start of an all-consuming passion and a deep friendship that inspires the… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “I have missed you. I do miss you. I shall miss you.” Luise Wolfram & Jasna Fritzi Bauer on Vita Sackville-West & Virginia Woolf

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 21 March 2025
  • Time: 20:30
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

The legendary “Zeitreise” [“Time Travel”] album by Wolfgang Niedecken’s band, BAP, was released in April 2024. It was put together from live footage of four memorable concerts in Cologne’s Sartory Sälen venue… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “Don’t think twice, it’s all right.” Wolfgang Niedecken on the literature that influenced his life and work

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 21 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

In his new book, The Future Is Magic, Matthias Horx crisscrosses the borders between politics, business and journalism to present an extraordinary account of his life and work. Horx takes us from the… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The future is magic – with Matthias Horx

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: BALLONI-Hallen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

All-Age-Veranstaltung | ab 16 Jahren

They have a combined total of 1.7 million followers on TikTok and Instagram. Gazelle and Gialu (@gazelleishername and @gialu.mx) delight huge numbers of fans with their videos on a range of topics,… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Gazelle and Gialu – never not changing. 25 first times

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Literature has all sorts of good spirits who appear when help is required, supporting protagonists in unconventional ways. There’s the down-to-earth variety such as Christine Nöstlinger’s guardian spir… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event In good spirits: Maria Schrader, Devid Striesow and Knut Elstermann on invisible helpers

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Auf einer Dinnerparty 1922 lernt die Schriftstellerin Virginia Woolf die Autorin und gefeierte Aristokratin Vita Sackville- West kennen. Es ist der Beginn einer verzehrenden Leidenschaft und einer… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event ZUSATZVERANSTALTUNG: „Ich habe dich vermisst. Ich vermisse dich. Ich werde dich vermissen.“ Luise Wolfram & Jasna Fritzi Bauer über Vita Sackville-West & Virginia Woolf

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Die Geschichte des sagenhaft reichen Jay Gatsby und der schönen, blasierten Daisy Buchanan spielt zu einer Zeit, als „Gin das Nationalgetränk und Sex die nationale Obsession war“ (New York Times). In seine… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event ZUSATZVERANSTALTUNG: „You must know Gatsby.“ Claudia Michelsen, Axel Milberg und Bernhard Robben über F. Scott Fitzgeralds Meisterwerk

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: RheinEnergie-Hauptverwaltung (Eingang neben Kundenzentrum)
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available

Jakob Hein’s novels have already given us astonishing glimpses into world history (“Leutnant Stern and His Mission to the Orient”). This time, he stands out with an absurd retelling of history. Wie Grisc… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Jakob Hein, Nina Kunzendorf and the absurd tale of Grisha and the grass

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 18:30
  • Location: Filmforum NRW im Museum Ludwig
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“I write thrillers and non-fiction books and host a podcast. Was I really just thinking about publishing a poetry collection? Simply plunking my heart on the operating table for a public dissection?” Eve… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Princess Standard – Romy Hausmann and Fortuna Ehrenfeld

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 19:30
  • Location: Schauspiel Köln im DEPOT 1
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“I’ve decided to wring a good story out of this meaningless day”. Lena Klenke and Langston Uibel look into everyday sorrow Inspired by bestselling author Mariana Leky’s collection of columns, “Sorrow… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “I’ve decided to wring a good story out of this meaningless day”. Lena Klenke and Langston Uibel look into everyday sorrow

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: BALLONI-Hallen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

An unaccompanied reading.

Wolf Haas has a loose connection An unaccompanied reading. Wolf Haas is the author of the cult hit series “Brenner” and master of the ingenious meta novel (“Verteidigung der Missionarstellung” [“In Defense o… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Wolf Haas has a loose connection

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

The story of phenomenally rich Jay Gatsby and beautifully smug Daisy Buchanan takes place in a time when “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession” (New York Times). In his 1925 mas… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “You must know Gatsby.” Claudia Michelsen, Axel Milberg and Bernhard Robben on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: RheinEnergie-Hauptverwaltung (Eingang neben Kundenzentrum)
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available

Es gibt allerhand gute Geister in der Literatur. Solche, die auftauchen, wenn Menschen Hilfe brauchen, und den Protagonist: innen auf unkonventionelle Art zur Seite stehen. Da sind zum Beispiel die… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event ZUSATZVERANSTALTUNG: „Von allen guten Geistern ...“ Maria Schrader, Devid Striesow und Knut Elstermann über unsichtbare Helfer

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 22 March 2025
  • Time: 20:30
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“Some of the people who cheer for me today might have turned me in 30 years ago”, said Hans Rosenthal, who became famous in the 1970s as quizmaster on the legendary German TV game show “Dalli Dalli”. With hi… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The two lives of Hans Rosenthal – with Gert Rosenthal, Birgit Hofmann, Florian Lukas and Adriana Altaras

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 23 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) had an unparalleled influence on post-war literature. He brought laconic clarity into the billows of celebratory prose. Nobody else shaped the English language of the 2… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “Write the truest sentence that you know.” An evening about Ernest Hemingway – with Devid Striesow and Paul Ingendaay

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 23 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“It is one damn second which can turn a life upside down, which destroys dreams and plans, which makes the apparently self-explanatory seem absurd.” In the small community of Alpen in the Lower Rhine reg… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Maybe life has something better in store – Anne Gesthuysen talks about feelings of guilt and motherly love

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 23 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“Love is important to you”, Catrin Meyr tells her chance traveling companion. Eduard Brünhofer, a once-renowned author of romance novels, is on the train from Vienna to Munich. Not necessarily with the … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “Love is important to you” – On a train with Daniel Glattauer and Julia Koschitz

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 23 March 2025
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: RheinEnergie-Hauptverwaltung (Eingang neben Kundenzentrum)
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available

When literary characters eat and drink, table manners are often forgotten. Between the pea soup, the knife rest and the fifth glass of wine in an airplane, we show who we really are: not the finest… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Slurping and burping – the tasteless side of literary history with Samuel Finzi, Nina Kunzendorf und Jakob Hein

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 23 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Imagine it’s time for work and nobody goes. Because the job is now being done by artificial intelligence. In Someone Else Can Do That, author Sara Weber (“The World Is Ending, And I’m Still Supposed to Wo… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Someone else can do that! Sara Weber on how AI helps us all work more effectively

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 23 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: BALLONI-Hallen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Eva Verena Müller is actually an actress and comedienne, but a few years ago she turned to science and obtained her doctorate in forest ecology. And she learned that nothing is more exciting than the … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Art and Quanta – Annette Frier, Eva Verena Müller and the fairytale of substantiveness

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 23 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“An epic work, thrilling but never moralizing. Lavie Tidhar is Israel’s answer to Don Winslow and James Ellroy”. Der Spiegel is not the only one to talk in grand terms about Lavie Tidhar’s thriller Maror. … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Maror – Israel’s history as an epic crime novel. With Lavie Tidhar and Sylvester Groth

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 23 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

They are unorthodox thinkers and keen observers of political reality: Daniel Cohn-Bendit is an icon of the antiauthoritarian movement and sat in the European Parliament for the Greens for 20 years.… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Between realpolitik and utopia – with Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Claus Leggewie back to reality

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 24 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: BALLONI-Hallen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Live-Podcast

Buffon’s nightmare meets Söder’s torment. Jonas Hector and Fabian Köster both live in Cologne. In their podcast, Schlag und fertig, they look for other things they have in common. Each week, Hector, the f… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Fabian Köster and Jonas Hector are a quick-witted pair

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 24 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Speech-to-text interpreting Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

How does one become a writer? Is it possible to make a career out of writing? Can one live off of it? And what kind of a life will it be? Tomas Espedal is, along with his friend Karl Ove Knausgård, … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Is being a writer a good idea? Tomas Espedal and Gerd Köster explore this question

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 24 March 2025
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: Brunosaal
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • Norwegian
    • German

Diese Lesung findet ohne Moderation statt.

In the small seaport of Stromness on the Orkney Islands, high in the cold European north, lives Paul, a Swiss decorator and interior designer. Paul does the slightly peculiar job of home staging. He… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Christian Kracht – Air

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 24 March 2025
  • Time: 19:30
  • Location: Oper Köln, Saal 2
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Live podcast, event duration: 120 minutes, including intermission

One is 30 years old, the other is 75: Mona Ameziane and Christine Westermann represent two different generations and countless books read. They tackle a new topic in each episode of their literature… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Zwei Seiten – a podcast about books. With Mona Ameziane and Christine Westermann

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 24 March 2025
  • Time: 19:30
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

On a sweltering summer’s day, 13-year-old Patch is kidnapped. For his best friend, Saint, it’s the end of the world. While she does everything in her power to find him, Patch spends an eternity in a pit… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “He hadn’t known that darkness could be so beautiful”. In the Colors of the Dark with Chris Whitaker and Florian Lukas

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 24 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: BALLONI-Hallen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

“The Love of Singular Men” is truly a singular novel. It’s ingenious like Cortazar or Nabokov, elliptical like Grace Paley, funny like Donald Barthelme. Upon finishing it you want to immediately meet the y… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Paul Ingendaay and Jerry Hoffman on a queer classic and the too-short life of Brazilian author Victor Heringer

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 24 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Katja Berlin has created a new genre of political satire. Over the past 10 years, with her legendary column “Torten der Wahrheit” [“Pie Charts of Truth”] in newspaper Die Zeit, she has delivered satiric… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Pie charts of truth – Katja Berlin on political satire and bitter reality

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 24 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“Helmut Lang jackets, Rolex watches, Belgian fashion designers – none of that is my thing, doesn’t interest me at all. So why have I enjoyed reading this book so much? Apparently, it is what Florian Horwa… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Magic Man! Florian Horwath and Sven Regener swoon over the magic of things

Event data
  • Date: Mon. 24 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Speech-to-text interpreting Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

A life in the fast lane, rebellious, unorthodox, full of joie de vivre and unbelievably strong and brave. That’s how Hubertus Meyer-Burckhardt – TV producer, bestselling author and host of the “NDR Talk … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “The sun is always shining. I can’t do anything about the clouds”. What Hubertus Meyer-Bernhardt’s grandmother taught him about life

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 25 March 2025
  • Time: 17:30
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Speech-to-text interpreting Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

The world has gone off the rails: In Eastern Europe, Putin is waging war against Ukraine. In the Middle East, the Hamas attack on Israel has revealed the explosive nature of protracted conflicts like… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Present-day wars – Joschka Fischer on the beginning of a new world order

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 25 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“Life is hard. Poetry is easy”, as someone once said. That person couldn’t be more wrong. Because in order to read a text as it is truly meant to be read, the speaker must go to the limit. Michael Lentz… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Poems in difficult circumstances – a literary dance on the precipice of comedy. With Michael Lentz and Uli Winters

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 25 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

With his series “The Thursday Murder Club”, Richard Osman became an overnight sensation in the British crime and humor genre. In 2020, he won author of the year at the British Book Awards. With We Sol… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event We Solve Murders – with Richard Osman and Matthias Matschke

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 25 March 2025
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

Live-Podcast

“I would like to be one of the best-known authors in Germany” – with this statement Caroline Wahl provoked a lot of discussion when she first visited the podcast Hotel Matze in May 2024. “It is very honest … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Hotel Matze live – Caroline Wahl on ambition, success and writing

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 25 March 2025
  • Time: 20:30
  • Location: Flora Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Speech-to-text interpreting Available
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Joël Dicker’s novels are international bestsellers – the Swiss author’s “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair” was hailed as a literary sensation and won him the Prix Goncourt. His latest thriller, … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event A wild animal – with Joël Dicker and Christian Berkel

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 25 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • French
    • German

Her debut “Axolotl Roadkill” was a sensation and she’s become a fixture of the German-speaking literature scene. Striker is Helene Hegemann’s eagerly awaited new novel, a high-speed, electrifying tale of… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Striker – Helene Hegemann on martial arts and class wars

Event data
  • Date: Tue. 25 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Ever since she was a child, Marie Niehoff has been a huge fan of fantasy novels. But they also have to be romantic. Today, she’s one of the most exciting authors in the romantasy genre. “Burning Cro… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Ashen throne – Marie Niehoff on her love of dragons

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 26 March 2025
  • Time: 17:30
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Cecelia Ahern’s debut novel “P.S. I Love You” was an international bestseller and was made into a hugely successful film starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler. When her second novel, “Love, Rosie” was adapt… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Into the storm, to find freedom – with Cecelia Ahern and Milena Karas

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 26 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

At first, Eckart von Hirschhausen observes the penguin with pity, noticing how unwieldy, slow and fragile it is on land. But when the penguin jumps into the water, he changes his opinion: In its… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The Penguin Story – Taking to Life Like a Penguin to Water. With Eckart von Hirschhausen and Stefan Christmann

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 26 March 2025
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: KOMED-Saal im MediaPark
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Humanity – what a success story! Charles Darwin, who formulated the theory of evolution, would be proud: survival of the fittest. But what about the second-fittest? Anna Bühler and Christian Alt feel ba… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Darwin would like that! Christian Alt und Anna Bühler on the most incredible follies in human history

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 26 March 2025
  • Time: 19:30
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“Takis Würger is surely one of the most important writers of our generation”, says Joël Dicker, praising Würger’s literary works (“The Club”, “Stella”). Following the success of his previous novels comes For Polina… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event For Polina – Takis Würger tells the love story of the year

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 26 March 2025
  • Time: 20:30
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Bestselling author Volker Kutscher’s successful crime series featuring investigator Gereon Rath forms the basis of the cult TV series “Babylon Berlin”. Rath is the tenth book in the series and the grand… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The grand finale of the Gereon Rath mystery series – with Volker Kutscher and Fritzi Haberlandt, music by Julian and Roman Wasserfuhr and Jörg Brinkmann

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 26 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Tickets for this event are only available through KölnMusik and at the Theaterkasse am Neumarkt, not through myticket.

Half the nation saw him for the first time in the film “Das Boot”. His big musical breakthrough came with the record “4630 Bochum”, which along with his 2002 release “Mensch” is still among the top-ten hig… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Grönemeyer! Michael Lentz and Herbert Grönemeyer on the life and works of this exceptional artist

Event data
  • Date: Wed. 26 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: Philharmonie
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available

For such a small country, Ireland has produced a remarkable number of great writers. Including, of course, the unshakable James Joyce, naturalized American Colum McCann, and shooting star Sally… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event A tale expertly told: The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright. With Anna Schudt

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 27 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

Three weeks, 21 stages, many thousands of kilometers – for 111 years, the Tour de France has been a huge sporting event with a tremendous fascinating power. Back in 1957, Roland Barthes compared it t… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The legendary Tour de France. With André Greipel, Marcel Kittel and Stephan Klemm

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 27 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Every day, we read and hear about irregular migration and the need to tackle this problem. But who are these people who wash ashore on Lampedusa, who swim across a river to enter into Greece, who… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The Literary Salon: Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin. With Navid Kermani and Guy Helminger

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 27 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Stadtgarten
  • Accessibility
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • Rollstuhlgerechter Zugang + WC (JAKI Club nicht barrierefrei) Available
    • Arabic
    • German

Live-Podcast

It all started in June 2020, with bestselling author Dörte Hansen as guest and a decent portion of potato salad à la Hemingway, just like the author received in Paris as payment for his first short s… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event eat.READ.sleep. Podcast session with Daniel Kaiser and Katharina Mahrenholz

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 27 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“Literature can also be compared to a photo lab, where pictures of life can be processed in order to bring out their contours and nuances. [...] In reading we discover that our feelings are not s… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Mission to read – Aleida Assmann, Nora Bossong and Martin Stankowski on the power of reading and the benefits of great literature

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 27 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Basilika St. Aposteln (Seiteneingang Turm)
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

21 Etappen, 3 Wochen, viele Tausend Kilometer – die Tour de France ist seit 111 Jahren ein gigantisches Sportereignis mit einer ungeheuren Faszinationskraft. Schon Roland Barthes verglich sie 1957 m… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event ZUSATZVERANSTALTUNG: Mythos Tour de France. Mit André Greipel, Marcel Kittel und Stephan Klemm

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 27 March 2025
  • Time: 20:30
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Roter Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

He played soccer for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the German Bundesliga, was in the national team from 2014 to 2016 and won the World Cup in 2014. Now, Christoph Kramer presents his literary debut. It … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Life began that summer – with Christoph Kramer and Tommi Schmitt

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 27 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Sign language Available
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Multiple award-winning author and poet Raoul Schrott, whose works include “Erste Erde: Epos” [“The First Earth: An Epic Tale”] and “Inventur des Sommers” [“Inventory of Summer”], has taken on a unique and colo… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “In a time before writing, our starry sky was a movie theater of the night”. Raoul Schrott on the starry sky of humanity

Event data
  • Date: Thu. 27 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Grüner Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

For nearly 40 years, on an unremarkable street in Cologne, people have stood for hours, trying to peek through a curtained window and waiting to be let into a magical world. “Le Moissonnier” is unu… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Vincent Moissonnier and Bert Gamerschlag share true stories of a special restaurant

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 28 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Stadthalle Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Discussion and reading in German

Every Thursday, the grandfather visits his grandson’s grave. The mother dwells in deep grief, while the father tries to suppress what happened. When the family finally decides to look to the future, s… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The Child – a new masterpiece by Fernando Aramburu. With Robert Stadlober

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 28 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • German

Our times are shaped by crises and conflicts. The familiar geopolitical order is being realigned in the face of international conflicts, while anti-European politicians are grasping for power. Peace… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Crises and conflicts: How Europe can overcome powerlessness, with Nicole Deitelhoff, Michel Friedman and Gerald Knaus

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 28 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Peruvian author and journalist Gabriela Wiener is one of the most exciting literary voices in Latin America. Her book Undiscovered was nominated for the 2024 International Booker Prize and is now… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event What traces does colonial violence leave behind? With Gabriela Wiener and Jasmin Tabatabai

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 28 March 2025
  • Time: 18:00
  • Location: DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Spanish
    • German

They are both legendary: Heidi, the young orphan in the Swiss Alps, and Dracula, the bloodsucking Romanian Count. And they both became pop culture icons. What are the parallels between Spyri’s work a… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event From the mountains of Transylvania to the Swiss Alps: What do “Dracula” and “Heidi” have in common? Mark Benecke, Peter Otto Büttner and Mavie Hörbiger on two icons of world literature

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 28 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Stadthalle Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Johann Scheerer is a man of many talents. As a music producer, he works with internationally successful artists. As an author he writes highly acclaimed novels (“Wir sind dann wohl die Angehörigen” [“I … This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Play – Johann Scheerer on art, children, creativity and the usual chaos of modern life

Event data
  • Date: Fri. 28 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Two students, she from East Germany and he from Switzerland, meet at the “House of the Red Army” in Erfurt in 1965. Both are very young – she’s 21, he’s 23. They fall in love and want to spend their lives tog… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Flight novella – Thomas Strässle and Elke Heidenreich on the power of love against the dominant system

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 29 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“The History of Bees” brought Norwegian author Maja Lunde international fame. In her new book, Shutter Speed, she once again delicately examines our connection with nature. On a normal June day, time sud… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “Shutter Speed” – Maja Lunde and Mariele Millowitsch on a world at a standstill

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 29 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

The great Irish writer Colm Tóibín is famous for his gripping storytelling as well as his precise and emotive characterizations. His novels, including international bestseller “Brooklyn” and its splen… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Vinegar Hill – Colm Tóibín talks to Volker Schlöndorff and David Bennent about his poetry

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 29 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

What would rock ‘n’ roll be without its stories? Without sex and drugs? Without hysterical fans? Without its delusions of grandeur? Without band secrets and the secrets of success (and failures)? Wit… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event It’s only Rock ’n’ Roll … With Bibiana Beglau, Gerd Köster and Markus Naegele

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 29 March 2025
  • Time: 17:30
  • Location: Stadthalle Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Hendrik Streeck, director of the Institute for Virology at University Hospital Bonn, is best known as a pandemic expert and author of non-fiction. His new book Das Institut [“The Institute”] is a hig… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The Institute – Hendrik Streeck and Jan Josef Liefers on a crime under the shadow of science

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 29 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

“Only a few people are as good at explaining societal developments and background as sociologist and author Aladin El-Mafaalani” (Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg). El-Mafaalani has been conducting res… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Children – a minority without protection. With Aladin El-Mafaalani and Mithu Sanyal

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 29 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Brunosaal
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Ursula K. Le Guin was a pioneer of science fiction and fantasy literature and her books still shape popular culture today. The blockbuster “Avatar” is based on her novel, “The Word for World is Fores… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Ursula K. Le Guin and Corinna Harfouch dig deep into their carrier bags of fiction

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 29 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Volksbühne am Rudolfplatz
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

This is what Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most feared critic, wrote to his wife, Yulia Navalnaya. Katja Kolm began collecting the activist’s prison writings in 2021, in order to make them available to the… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “I crack jokes in court to make you laugh”.* Katja Kolm and Michael Maertens read Navalny’s literary legacy

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 29 March 2025
  • Time: 20:30
  • Location: Stadthalle Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Veranstaltungsdauer: 120 Minuten

One thing is certain: Thees Uhlmann has been playing in the Champion’s League of German singer-songwriters for many years. Almost incidentally, he also became a celebrated author with “Sophia, Death and… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event All the noise and dirt and dust – 30 years of songs and writing with Thees Uhlmann

Event data
  • Date: Sat. 29 March 2025
  • Time: 21:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Veranstaltungsdauer: 120 Minuten

Eines steht außer Frage: Thees Uhlmann spielt seit vielen Jahren schon in der Champions League der deutschsprachigen Singer-Songwriter (und wurde wie nebenbei mit „Sophia, der Tod und ich“ gefeierter Schr… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event ZUSATZVERANSTALTUNG: All der Krach und Schmutz und Staub – 30 Jahre Songs und Texte mit Thees Uhlmann

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 30 March 2025
  • Time: 16:00
  • Location: Theater am Tanzbrunnen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

August 1975: The Van Laars, a family of rich bankers, have created a camp amid the fabulous natural scenery of upstate New York. For years, it’s been a place where children and teens enjoy expansive n… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event The God of the Woods – with Liz Moore and Marleen Lohse

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 30 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

“A beautifully written paean to music”, says The Observer of the new book by bestselling author Michel Faber (“Under the Skin”, “The Book of Strange New Things”). In Listen: On Music, Sound and Us, Faber wants… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Listen! Michel Faber describes in dulcet tones what music does to us

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 30 March 2025
  • Time: 17:00
  • Location: Kulturkirche Köln
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • English
    • German

We encounter change in many forms: whether it’s a change of heart, worries about climate change, or the discovery of our own changeability. The experience of growing up, in particular, involves c… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event OffSpring Award 2025 – “Change” A competition for young writers. With Kaleb Erdmann and Anneke Kim Sarnau

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 30 March 2025
  • Time: 19:00
  • Location: COMEDIA Theater, Grüner Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Biting irony and humane sarcasm are what make Thomas Mann’s works so unique. It began with a quirky family from Lübeck, then moved on to dog owners and the Half Lung Club in a Swiss sanatorium, An… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event “I’m actually a humorist” – Dietmar Bär, Jeanette Hain, Thomas Mann and Volker Weidermann

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 30 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: Theater am Tanzbrunnen
  • Accessibility
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available

Florence in the 1550s: Painter Jacopo da Pontormo is found dead. Stabbed with scissors, he lies at the foot of his unfinished fresco in the San Lorenzo chapel. He’d been working on it for 11 years. N… This text was shortened for this overview. Follow the more-link to read the full text.

More information about the event Perspectives – step into the world of the Medicis with Laurent Binet and Ulrich Noethen

Event data
  • Date: Sun. 30 March 2025
  • Time: 20:00
  • Location: WDR Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
  • Accessibility
    • Induction loop Available
    • Wheelchair friendly + toilets Available
    • Assistance dogs welcome Available
    • French
    • German
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