As a literature centre for Osnabrück and western Lower Saxony, our aim is to bring exciting contemporary literature to life in the city and the region. After all, literature is not just about reading, but also about exchange, dialogue and encounters - be it with the authors, the artists or with each other as an audience. Our understanding of literature is an open one, as can be found in the wide range of contemporary texts. Literature enchants, fascinates, educates; it can stimulate social debates, make other worlds and experiences tangible, touch people emotionally.
The Literature Office would also like to enable very different approaches through the different aesthetics of its events. Through co-operation with artistic partners from all areas, interactive formats as well as connections between literature and music, movement, visual arts or science are created in addition to readings. Thanks to its network, the Literature Office not only performs at its headquarters, the historic Ledenhof, but also utilises and discovers atmospheric locations throughout the city and the region, each precisely tailored to the respective artistic format. Through dialogue with schools, the university, other educational institutions and the city's youth facilities as a whole, we aim to open up literature to a young audience in particular.
The events organised by the Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen focus, among other things, on presenting young authors that the public can discover exclusively in this way. We also want to encourage people to discover the world through literature. As a city of peace, Osnabrück is part of a global network, which is clearly demonstrated by the winners of the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize, such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Aslı Erdoğan, Henning Mankell, Jurij Andruchowytsch and Svetlana Alexievich. The Literaturbüro wants to make this polyphony and multilingualism tangible. In addition to novels, special attention will also be paid to poetry and digital forms of literature.
The Literature Office is also a contact point and networking organisation for authors from the region. It organises workshops and author meetings and advises literary event organisers.
Curious? You can get an impression of all our activities, paths and goals in our video.
In this series organised by the Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen with and in the Backstein Café and Bistro, well-known Osnabrück residents chat about the books of their lives in a cosy atmosphere with the head of the Literaturbüro Jens Peters. Books that have inspired them, that have given them strength, that they loved as a child; books that have made them think, laugh or cry. Together, the dialogue partners will also repeatedly address the connections that these readings have to the activities for which the guests have become known. The format is not limited to pure dialogue: Favourite books are also read aloud, and music, pictures or film clips are also included. Previous guests have included Florian Wintels (German Poetry Slam Champion 2022), Anna Jehle (Director of Kunsthalle Osnabrück), Roland Riebeling (Tatort actor and lecturer at the Institute of Music), Heaven (musician) and Shabnam Parvaresh (musician and artist).
"Was liest eigentlich...?" is part of the "Let's Lounge" series organised by the Lower Saxony Houses of Literature. Admission is free. Bookings can be made via the Literature Office.
The annual "Osnabrück Book and Reading Weeks for Children" in cooperation with the city library and the district centres - with a changing theme: from "really great!" (classics) to "really hip!" (zeitgeist) to "really sporty!" (World Cup year) - have now become a permanent fixture in the range of literary events for children in Osnabrück.
As with the annual "School meets Literature" project day in the district of Osnabrück, all types of schools are involved.
Since 2022, Osnabrück has also celebrated 16 June as Bloomsday. This is because the novel of the century "Ulysses" by Irish author James Joyce is set on this day. The Osnabrück speciality: readings from the novel and real Irish music can be experienced as a literary pub crawl! The Green Hunter, the cinema pub 8 ½, the Green Goose and, of course, the Red Shamrock have already taken part. Experience a literary classic in an unclassical way!
Poetry awakens emotions - as the title of this series makes clear. Be inspired by the special guests and atmospheric formats. Whether Nora Gomringer and Wolf Hogekamp in a lyrical battle or Jan Wagner and Jan Röhnert in a poetic exploration of nature - here you can experience poetry in a whole new way. There is much to discover!
The co-operation project "Geschichte(n) erzählen" (Telling history) by the Museumsquartier Osnabrück, the adult education centre of the city of Osnabrück and the Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen approaches the topic of "remembrance culture" from a literary perspective and focuses on current positions.
Four readings take place in the Museumsquartier each year.
These two events open up Osnabrück to the literature of the Romance language area.
On St Jordi's Day, the World Book Day, students of Romance studies present texts, music and other artistic contributions in formats they have devised themselves, always on a special overarching theme. The result is an always surprising evening of events that ends with a typical regional buffet. Co-organisers are the Institute for Romance Studies/Latin Studies at the University of Osnabrück as well as the German-French and German-Italian Societies of Osnabrück.
The Latinale is a mobile Latin American poetry festival that has been stopping off not only in major cities such as Berlin but also in Osnabrück for over 12 years. It offers a unique opportunity to experience Latin American authors in person and listen to their texts in the original Spanish.
Subtitling ensures that you can immerse yourself in this world even without any knowledge of Spanish. An integral part of the Latinale is always a school workshop that deals with questions of literature and translation. This is co-organised by the Institute for Romance Studies/Latin Studies.
Jens Peters was born in Beckum, Westphalia, in 1982. He discovered his passion for literature at an early age, partly through being read to a lot, from "Dead Poets Society" to "The Lord of the Rings". So, after graduating from high school, a bachelor's degree in English literature at the University of Cambridge was an obvious choice. And since he felt at home in Great Britain, he stayed on for another five years. He earned a master's degree in Text & Performance Studies at King's College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and worked as a director and dramaturge. At the University of Exeter he finally completed his doctorate on contemporary British and German-language drama and its staging. To then work as a dramaturge, Jens Peters returned to Germany in 2013. Work at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the Staatstheater Karlsruhe brought him to the Theater Osnabrück, where he worked for five years as head dramaturg and deputy drama director. Literature has always accompanied him on this path, in recent years especially poetry. Thus, he is a member of the John Clare Society, which is dedicated to the work of this English Romantic, and has himself published on topics related to literature, translation and theater. He has taught and lectured at the University of Cambridge, Queen's University Belfast, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, among others. He currently holds a lectureship at the Institute for German Studies at the University of Osnabrück. Since 2022 he has been managing director and head of the Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen.
Dr. Jens Peters
Literature Office West Lower Saxony
At the Ledenhof 3-5
49074 Osnabrück
Tel: 0541/28692
Mobile: 0152/532276
Please inquire on the homepages or directly in the respective houses about the current opening and event times, prices, cancellations, etc.. This information can change at short notice!
