PEN Berlin at the Leipzig Book Fair 2024
AI and Literature
Thursday, 21 March, 10:30 a.m. | BKM | Hall 2, Stand B401
Panel discussion with: Hannes Bajohr (writer, literary scholar), Isabel Fargo Cole (writer, translator), Valerie Fritsch (writer). Moderation: Dana Grigorcea (writer, Board PEN Berlin)
Of course, artificial intelligence also poses dangers for literature – what about copyright, originality, and the unpredictable human element? But conversely, can artificial intelligence serve writers as a tool to explore new creative processes and unknown narrative paths? Are new genres even emerging? These questions will be discussed by Hannes Bajohr, who engages with the poetic potential of AI-generated literature, Isabel Cole, who co-authored a manifesto for human language and Valerie Fritsch, who, for her novels, relies on the closeness and strangeness of analog research.
How utopian is peace?
Thursday, 21 March, 2:15 p.m. | Forum Offene Gesellschaft | Hall 2, Stand E600
Omri Boehm (philosopher, recipient of the Leipzig Prize for European Understanding 2024) interview by Daniel-Dylan Böhmer (journalist, Welt)
Not only since the most recent bloody escalation in Israel and Palestine has the philosopher Omri Boehm been a much sought-after interlocutor. In the spirit of Immanuel Kant he seeks to define those universal values that must apply at all times and to all conflicts. He currently notes a grave moral failure: on the side of the global, postcolonial left, which does not manage to appropriately condemn the most despicable terror, as well as on the part of the so-called West, which does not adequately live up to its responsibility for the Palestinian civilian population. About the »moral watershed« since 7 October and a peace for the region that currently appears utopian, Boehm discusses with the journalist and Daniel-Dylan Böhmer, a profound connoisseur of the region.
How the Right Speaks – The State Elections in the East and the AfD
Sunday, 24 March, 11:25 a.m. | Forum Offene Gesellschaft | Hall 2, Stand E600
Panel discussion with: Stephan Anpalagan (publicist), Miku Sophie Kühmel (writer) Max Annas (writer). Moderation: Sophie Sumburane (writer, Board PEN Berlin)
Shortly after the AfD entered the Bundestag, its spokesperson for cultural policy announced one of its goals: »Den Kulturbetrieb entsiffen«. Leading members of the party and its intellectual milieu dream of a cleansed cultural sector and a cleansed society. The völkisch fantasies also express themselves in language and terms (»Messermänner, Kopftuchmädchen, Flüchtlingsflut«) – but how does language influence radicalization? What, on the other hand, can language and literature achieve in the fight against right-wing extremism? How much hostility to the constitution must the constitutional state tolerate, how strong are tolerance and freedom? What threatens in Saxony and Thuringia in the event of an AfD election victory? Is a ban the only thing that can still help, and is that even sensible?