GLOBALE: Writers for Freedom

Herta Müller reads for Liu Xia.

For the finale of the »Writers for Freedom« series, we look forward to welcome Nobel Prize winner for literature, Herta Müller as the reading mentor of Chinese poet and artist Liu Xia. Since her husband Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, Liu Xia has lived under strict house arrest – constantly monitored and isolated.

Together with moderator Gerwig Epkes (SWR2 LiteraturEN), Herta Müller will speak about the powerful poetry of Liu Xia and about her own work, in which she eloquently highlights the horror of totalitarianism.

Luckily, despite the severe restrictions, some of Liu Xia’s works have still been published internationally. In Spring 2015, her photographic work was presented in an exhibition in the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, comprising of about 50 objects. In November 2015, the bilingual volume of poetry »Empty Chairs« (Chinese / English) was published by the American publisher Graywolf Press with a foreword by Herta Müller.