International Writers Series: Felicitas Hoppe

In this virtual reading and discussion, Max Kade Visiting Writer Felicitas Hoppe will speak about her work, in particular her 2018 novel Prawda: eine amerikanische Reise (Pravda: an American journey). The novel is based on her own peregrinations retracing the steps of Ilf and Petrov, a duo of Russian journalists who traveled around the U.S. in the 1930s filing dispatches for the Communist newspaper Pravda. Hoppe will be joined in conversation by Kurt Beals, associate professor of German and Comparative Literature.

The International Writers Series is a collaboration between the International Writers track of the Program in Comparative Literature and the University Libraries at Washington University to celebrate new publications of creative works by writers and translators in the Washington University in St. Louis community and beyond. The discussions are moderated by Matthias Goeritz, professor of practice of Comparative Literature.

Free and open to all, pre-registration required.

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Bios

• Felicitas Hoppe, born in Hameln, Germany, is a writer based in Berlin and Valais, Switzerland. She has published numerous novels, short stories, children’s and young adult books. She is also the German translator of Dr. Seuss’s classic Green Eggs and Ham. Recent novels of hers include Prawda : eine amerikanische Reise (Fischer, 2018) and Die Nibelungen – ein deutscher Stummfilm (Fischer, 2021). Hoppe is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 2012 Georg Büchner Prize, and the very first Grand Prize of the German Literature Fund (Großer Preis des Deutschen Literaturfonds) in 2020. She is currently the Max Kade Writer-In-Residence at Washington University in St. Louis.
• Kurt Beals is an associate professor of German and Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. His book Wireless Dada: Telegraphic Poetics in the Avant-Garde was published in 2019 by Northwestern University Press. He has published articles on authors including George Grosz, Paul Celan, Regina Ullmann, and Max Bense, in journals including New German Critique, The German Quarterly, and Dada/Surrealism. He is also co-editor of the volume Hans Richters Rhythmus 21: Schlüsselfilm der Moderne. In addition, Beals has translated a wide range of works from German into English, including a volume of poetry by the contemporary German poet Anja Utler, a collection of stories by the Swiss author Regina Ullmann, the volume Is that Kafka? 99 Finds by Reiner Stach, and Not a Novel by Jenny Erpenbeck.