Talking with German Author Christopher Kloeble about the Perils of Poetry Translation, World War I Jokes, and the Festival Neue Literatur
The seventh annual Festival Neue Literatur, the first (and the only) literary festival in the United States to focus on German-language literature, kicked off last night with an opening reception at the Goethe-Institut New York. The festival features writers from across several German-speaking countries—Austria, Germany, Switzerland—as well as the US. (Check out the manageable and well-curated event schedule, which starts the evening of Friday, February 26 and ends the evening of Sunday, February 28, here.) This year features, in addition to American writers Jenny Offill and James Hannaham, a roster of exciting German-language authors. We spoke to Bavarian-born writer Christopher Kloeble—whose novel of closely held family secrets, Almost Everything Very Fast, came out this month from Graywolf—about the festival, writing, translation, and living across the world.