Are you ready for me in German?

April 23, 2012, 1 Comment

The next big test for me is on the doorstep: events in German. Up until now all the 70+ book readings, talks and presentations have been in English – from Migros Klubschule in St Gallen to the Swiss American audience in Beverly Hills – but with the publication of Der Schweizversteher, now I have to switch from my mother tongue to the language of the fatherland. It may be Shakespeare’s birthday today but I’m trying to think in Goethe-speak. Of course, I’ve had to do many press and radio interviews in German (or at least my version of it) but next Sunday in Bern will be my first time standing up in front of an audience and reading auf Deutsch. Fingers crossed – or as we’re in Switzerland, thumbs clenched – that it goes well.

As there are few events coming up in both languages, here’s a quick overview for you in case you want to come along to any of them. Both books will be on sale at all the events or you can bring your own if you want me to sign it. Or you can just come to listen and laugh, though hopefully at the content rather than the delivery.

• Thursday 26 April at 17.30 – talk in English with apéro at the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce in Zurich. You need to register beforehand as tickets are not on sale on the night. It costs 30 francs for members & guests, and I have arranged that anyone registering now can come as my guest: when you register online, enter ‘Diccon Bewes’ in the part where it asks who invited you.
• Sunday 29 April at 10.30 – Vorlesung und Gespräch (auf Deutsch) at Punto in Bern. A Sunday brunch with me as part of the Kulturprogramm of this quirky Quartierbeiz. Tickets are 20 francs for the brunch and you can reserve seats online.
• Wednesday 9 May at 20.00 – official launch for Der Schweizversteher at Stauffacher Buchhandlung in Bern. We are making this a bilingual evening, so that no-one misses out, though I might get confused! I will be interviewed by Jonathan Spirig of the Berner Zeitung, with audience participation of course, plus an apéro afterwards. Tickets, now on sale in Stauffacher, are 15 francs but free if you have a Stauffacher or Thalia customer card.
• Friday 18 May at 20.00 – opening night of the Zurich Writers’ Workshop weekend (in English). As a taster for the particpants of the writing workshop, there will be an evening of readings and questions at the Orell Füssli English Bookshop in Zurich. The course, where I am the non-fiction tutor, is sold out but this event is open to everyone.

And if you can’t make any of those, you canalways read and listen to some of the interviews I have done. Just click on the Interviews tab in the menu bar to see a slection in German and English. And even one in French, though not with me speaking, thank goodness. It was a very Swiss affair – an interview in German for a French language magazine about an book on Switzerland written in English. It’s a wonder we managed to make sense of anything.