It's the middle of August, I'm glad to say, here in Munich things are looking up for English language literary readings. Even if the Slams have gone into summer hibernation. Antislam is maintaining its ground. But Antislam is not all that's going on. I meet people at Antislam who are looking for something else. I personally find it important to have a variety of things on offer, so I encourage anyone who cannot find exactly what they are looking for to start their own events. If I can help anybody who wishes to do this, I'll be glad to be service.
So here is an overview of the English speaking literary events I know of that are available in Munich.
There are the RipRap Slams at Café Gap which should be starting again in September. But please check out their website to make sure exactly when. Despite being an Antislammer, I do have to admit a certain weakness for Slam, and you may even see me at Café Gap on stage. RipRap Slams are traditional slams in the most traditional sense of the word. 10 poets in three knockout rounds to decide the winner by audience applause. Each poet gets three minutes to read at each set.
It seemed sensible to talk about Slam, before I mentioned my own Antislam at Café Käthe. Antislam has only been up and running for about six months now, but its success is in line with its ambitions. “Klein aber fein” as Germans care to say. The idea of Antislam is to offer those writers who do not wish to move in competitive circles a chance to read, with criticism, in a safe and friendly environment. Antislam poets and authors get 10 minutes to read. There are no prizes, no winners, no losers. And there is often no applause, though that differs from evening to evening, and it has nothing to do with quality. Certainly no one will stop you from clapping if you feel strongly about it. But it is not about applause. After reading, each author's or poet's text is open to critique. If an author or poet does not wish to have their work critiqued, no problem. We will just go on to the next reader.There are many other variations of Antislam. The originator of Antislam is (according to Wikipedia) Rev. Jen. You can read her definition here which differs in many respects from my own.
Our Munich Antislam at Café Käthe offers critique with immediacy. That is, people who read their work get feedback on its effects, which can be useful for reworking composition, trying out new ideas, new characters or character viewpoints, or simply practicing your skills in reading aloud to an audience. So Antislam, ironically, despite its title, can also serve as a way of preparing for Slam. But it is an event in its own right and one that has been neglected. It covers a framework and feedback that Slam cannot offer. The Munich Antislams have also been seen to function as a meeting point for like-minded people who wish to critique each other's work in more detail.
For those of us who wish to go deeper into detail there is Munich Writers, the oldest English-speaking writer's group in Munich (to my knowledge). The group is run by Ross Cork and consists at the moment of some eight to ten members, of whom usually five or six are available at one meeting. The idea at this group is that people send their texts by e-mail in advance to the group. Each member of the group then reads the texts of the others and offers critique. The advantage of Munich Writers is that the feedback includes grammatical errors, and has the potential to offer a greater level of written detail than Antislam can offer in its framework.
There is also another group I know little about called the Munich Short Stories Writers Group, They have a facebook page and meet every 1st and 3rd Monday, each month at 7pm at Treemans Coffee Shop in Munich. From what I can tell new members are welcome and their meetings consist of writing exercises with "homework". I will try to find out more.
So there you have it. Four different levels of practice and feedback. Four good reasons not to walk around in the cold once Winter kicks in.
- RipRap Slams : competitive applause with event character. Audience welcome
- Antislam : noncompetitive immediate feedback, where the audience is invited to express an opinion on the level of effectiveness of the reading. Audience welcome
- Munich Writers: detailed feedback on a structural and grammatical level. Writers welcome
- Munich Short Stories Writers group: exercises and homework (I’ll find out more about them)
There used to be another reading event at The Munich Readery. I'll let you know when I find out more about that. There are a couple of other things in the pipeline as well.
StopPress: extra. Another group, Writing in Munich, has a nice monthly get together at local cafés. They can be contacted via their yahoo group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writinginmunich/cal. The group I experienced as very open and friendly. Usually a theme is agreed upon and the members write something about that theme. The texts are then read aloud and discussed when they meet.
Besides the literary events there are also, as far as I'm aware, three English-speaking theatre groups in Munich, two of whom, I believe, are open to taking in amateur actors. The websites of these four groups are below. Entity and Impact hold open auditions.
A more comprehensive article on these theatre groups might follow.
If you, having read this article, would be interested in contributing literary or critical articles to this blog, please just drop me a line, and I will send you a user ID. However, please know in advance that articles should not be used purely for advertising or competitive purposes.
This article does not claim in any way to be complete. If you have any English-speaking literary events going on in Munich that we have not heard of please let us know and we will gladly link to you and/or visit you.
