The future ripens in multilingualism. It is a recognition of the diversity of our cultural life. As Octavio Paz states in one of his poems, it provides the possibility to be the other without giving up on yourself.
In mir die Welt, die meer ist. Mehr noch: Welten, die sich gegenseitig w:erden, im bewussten und unbewussten Dialog. These are perspectives from a position of chance and creativity as resistance and perception of today’s realities in language and literature as concrete contributions. Language and literature as an expression of societal diversity. Diversity in the creative/creating act of social and cultural interaction.
In this respect, globale°, the festival for border-crossing literature, motive, a commitment to the present and goal in one: affirmation of origin, optimism of the present, and movement towards the future.
In a space where the recognition and promotion of multicultural subjects of literary presence as a natural part of the literary landscape in Germany haven’t been achieved yet, an event like the globale° contributes significantly to its appreciation. The festival succeeds in affirming the intercultural polyphony of literary developments in the German language of the past few decades and enables more spaces in which it is respected and consistently acknowledged.
It is a bourgeois, i.e., a civil indictment of poverty that after 70 years of immigration in this country, multicultural literature is still treated with a guest status. Although, every now and then, it is granted a residence permit in the sacred halls of German literature, which are characterized by the “good and academically bourgeois,” as inner-exotic extras or “shameful delicacies,” however, the right to equality is ultimately denied.
As the Chilean novelist, Luís Sepúlveda, put it aptly: “In the end, he was like one of them, but he wasn’t one of their own.”
globale° creates a literary geography of recognition: mapping poetic voices in the German language, which the festival does not simply abandon to silence and knowing ignorance anymore. Theglobale° – festival for cross-border literature has existed in Bremen and Bremerhaven since 2007. The festival is organized by the Verein Globale e.V. in close coopertation with the University of Bremen, the Theater Bremen, and numerous other institutions like Radio Bremen, Instituto Cervantes, Institut français, Stadtbibliothek Bremen, Prager Literaturhaus, Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration Paris, and more.
The globale° – festival for cross-border-crossing literature is unique in this form in Europe. It offers a forum for the diversity of literature, which refers linguistically, culturally, or topographically to the German-speaking realm. It understands itself as part of the dialogue between cultures and places itself consciously in the context of the current debate on diversity and integration.
Invitations are extended to multilingual authors. Other guests include writers from all over the world, whose experience with transnational migrations has inspired linguistic adventures and great stories.
