Pen Berlin and the Berliner Ensemble invite you to:
WORDS AGAINST VIOLENCE – AN EVENING FOR SALMAN RUSHDIE
Art is vulnerable because it is made by humans. Since the death order of the Iranian mullah regime, Salman Rushdie had to bitterly experience this vulnerability – and no one can say what mental and physical wounds the assassination attempt of August 12 will bear. But we must all protect what was always most important to Salman Rushdie: the freedom of the literary word.
PEN Berlin and the Berliner Ensemble have organized a reading at short notice as a convalescent salute to Salman Rushdie, one of the greatest writers of our time. As a sign of resistance against fanaticism and violence, together with the audience, with his readers.
Like no other writer of his generation, Rushdie had to fight for decades for his personal and artistic freedom. What often comes across as wooden and routine in our world – talking about the freedom of speech – sounds sensual and alive in his words: “If we believe in freedom, if we want the air we breathe to remain abundant and breathable, then we must not only defend the right of art to exist, but celebrate it.” These are Words against Violence.
On Sunday in Berliner Ensemble we are celebrating Salman Rushdie’s art.
Ticket sales for the reading are now available from the Berliner Ensemble box office, tickets cost 16 euros, concessions 9 euros, mostly in German.
Words against Violence – An Evening for Salman Rushdie
Sunday, 21 th August, 2022, 18.30 Uhr, Berliner Ensemble, Neues Haus
With Seyran Ateş, Priya Basil, Zoë Beck, Thea Dorn, Can Dündar, Eren Güvercin, Eva Menasse, Yassin Musharbash, Sven Regener, Judith Schalansky, Günter Wallraff, Deniz Yücel and with friendly support of the C. Bertelsmann publishing house.
PEN Berlin.
We stand by our word.