Blue Sofa At 'Große Berliner Büchernacht'

What do Günter Grass, Martin Walser and Amoz Oz have in common with Paulo Coelho, Gerhard Schröder, and Joschka Fischer? They all celebrated their Berlin book premieres on the Blue Sofa of Der Club Bertelsmann, Deutschlandradio Kultur, the ZDF culture magazine "Aspekte" and "Süddeutsche Zeitung." At the premiere of the most recent "Große Berliner Büchernacht," the Blue Sofa again presented the evening's most important authors. Myriam Jochum of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels explained: "We want to show what literature can do." And the result was excellent: with a true reading marathon, the association opened its traditional trade congress "Buchtage Berlin" (Berlin Book Days), where almost 700 publishers and book dealers meet regularly.

Hence, reading, singing, poetry, improvisation and discussions took place en masse at the Kulturbrauerei at Prenzlauer Berg. Movie fans were able to spend the night with literary adaptations, a "reading" in sign language was given for deaf people, the German voices of Hollywood stars read everything they were given to read, from manuals to Shakespeare sonnets. The "ramp of fame for authors" ("Spiegel), the Blue Sofa was a natural must.

Oscar winner speaks about his current project

At 8 p.m. Volker Schlöndorff opened the talks with his memoirs entitled "Licht, Schatten und Bewegung" (Light, Shadows, and Movement). But first, the Oscar winner ("The Tin Drum") spoke about his current project, the production of Leo Tolstoi's play "The Light Shines in the Darkness." In the meantime, almost 150 people gathered around the sofa in the market square inside the Kulturbrauerei. They wanted to see and hear, among others, Thees Uhlmann, founder of the band Tomte. He casually chatted with Ralf Müller-Schmid of Deutschlandradio Kultur about his place of birth, the town of Hemmoor near Cuxhaven in Lower Saxony, and the origin of the band's name, which refers to Astrid Lindgren's children's book "Tomte Tummetott." Today, the border-crosser between literature and music is living in Berlin.

The casual chat was followed by a discussion between author Uwe Timm and Barbara Wahlster, also Deutschlandradio Kultur, about Timm's fictional biography "Halbschatten," which tells the life of pilot Marga von Etzdorf. The author discovered her grave when strolling across Berlin's Invalidenfriedhof cemetery and wondered: "Why is this woman buried amidst graves of the Prussian military history, big names of the NS, and civilian victims of the last days of the war?" His book answers this question with a sensitive personality profile of the young pilot, who succeeded in a male domain but became a broken woman.

Numerous reports from witnesses of the time and piles of files researched

After this excursion into the 1930s, current themes returned to the sofa: in an interview with Jens Bisky of "Süddeutsche Zeitung," Christhard Läpple presented his book entitled "Verrat verjährt nicht" (Treason does not expire). In order to understand "what really happened at the Stasi" he conducted intense interviews with six former Stasi agents over a number of years, studied numerous reports from witnesses of the time, and read through piles of files. The result is a book that, instead of sensationalism and new revelations, shows how Stasi agents penetrated into entirely private realms of society. Ralf Müller-Schmid introduces Heike Faller's book "Wie ich einmal versuchte, reich zu werden – Mein Jahr unter Spekulanten" ("How I once tried to get rich – My year among speculators") as follows: "After bankers are labeled as a deeply corrupt and amoral professional group in the media, I found your approach refreshingly new. You perceive bankers as a lovable species." The report, which DVA published, describes Faller's career, from savings account holder to stock market expert, in a highly amusing and educational way.

"A beautiful summer evening with good, interesting guests"

Last but not least, the forum returned to the book industry itself. A few people from the publishing world had gathered among the audience to listen to the discussion between publisher Christoph Links and host, Christhard Läpple. In his book "Das Schicksal der DDR-Verlage. Die Privatisierung und ihre Konsequenzen" (The Fate of the GDR Publishers. Privatization and its Consequences), Links outlines the dramatic downfall of the east German publishers after reunification: of 78 state licensed publishers, only nine independent (mostly small) publishers remain; they generate less than one percent of book revenues in Germany and employ less than one tenth of the original number of employees. "What were the reasons for this tremendous change?" Läpple asked, "Was it because of the publishers' structures and profiles, the privatization policies of the Federal Government, or the new owners?"

The "Berliner Büchernacht" ended on the Blue Sofa with this appearance. Skeptics like Ralf Müller-Schmid, who in the beginning worried that the talks on the sofa might be drowned out amidst the diversity of simultaneous events, commented in the end: "When a bicyclist got off his bike and, with one hand on the handlebar, rubbed shoulders with the audience, I knew: we did it!" The participants and Christhard Läpple joined him in this view: "A beautiful summer night with good, interesting guests," was the satisfied summary of the ZDF "Aspekte" magazine's Vice President. And he should know because he was the only person who, as both an author and a host, was able to sit on both sides of the sofa.