Since 2015, the annual Bay Area Book Festival has brought top authors from around the world to Berkeley, California to connect readers of all ages and interests at events that are accessible and open to the public. To date, the festival has hosted nearly 400 sessions with over 1,000 speakers for nearly tens of thousands of guests. This year’s festival will take place May 4 and 5 in and around M.L.K. Civic Center Park in downtown Berkeley.

This year, the Bay Area Book Festival is partnering with Wunderbar Together and the Goethe-Institut San Francisco to bring special events dedicated to German language and literature to the Golden State.

Six indoor sessions were created for the festival that are particularly focused on German voices and perspectives and feature German-speaking authors. These include:

Saturday, May 4

10:00 AM – Quest: Journeys Through Generations

11:45 AM – Comic Consciousness: Graphic Novelists Tackle Cultural Identity and Crisis

3:15 PM – Which Side Are You On? Loyalty in Fiction

Sunday, May 5

10:00 AM – Courage in Publishing in an Age of Political Polarization

11:45 AM – Seeking Connection: Literature from Germany and Switzerland

3:15 PM – Literary Bravery: Sleepwalkers, Ghosts, and Radical Storytelling from Three International Luminaries

The German Wunderbar Together Pavilion at the Outdoor Fair, the festival’s largest pavilion, will also bring literature, language, poetry, face painting, music, and more to festivalgoers of all ages. Events will take place all day on a variety of topics, including:

Saturday, May 4

11:00 AM – Studying, Research and Funding in Germany

11:30 AM – 100 German Must Reads Workshop

12:45 PM – Story Time for Children

1:30 PM – Tristan Koster: Aware. An homage to Erich Fried for clarinet and instrumental group

2:30 PM – Nora Krug on Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home

3:15 PM – Katja Petrowskaja on Maybe Esther

4:00 PM – Learn German Now: Trial German Lesson

4:45 PM – Raffle

Sunday, May 5

11:00 AM – Learn German Now: Trial German Lesson

11:30 AM – Mighty Mike McGee Poetry Slam

12:15 PM – Story Time for Children

1:00 PM – Tristan Koster: Aware. An homage to Erich Fried for clarinet and instrumental group

1:45 PM – Raffle

2:00 PM – Dorothee Elmiger on Shift Sleepers

2:40 PM – Takis Würger on The Club

3:20 PM – 100 German Must Reads Workshop

4:30 PM – Studying, Research and Funding in Germany

Find out more information about Wunderbar Together events at the Bay Area Book Festival at the festival’s website!