• The Cultural Department of the City of Aachen and the Walter Hasenclever Society have put together a varied supporting program for the Walter Hasenclever Award Ceremony.
• Whether exhibition, reading or lecture: the events shed light on the work of Walter Hasenclever (1890-1940).
• This year's prizewinner, author Daniela Krien, will read from her work and discuss it with pupils from Einhard-Gymnasium.

For the first time this year, an extensive supporting program will accompany the awarding of the Walter Hasenclever Literature Prize of the City of Aachen. "With the accompanying program, we want to commemorate Walter Hasenclever's literary work this year on the 135th birthday and 85th anniversary of his death," says Olaf Müller, Operations Manager of the Cultural Department of the City of Aachen and jury member.

The accompanying program will frame the award ceremony, which will take place on Sunday, September 21, at 11 a.m. in the Spiegelsaal of Theater Aachen. The author Daniela Krien will receive the literature prize and read from her work the day before, on Saturday, September 20, at 6 p.m. in the Ludwig Forum Aachen. Admission to the reading is eight euros (concessions five euros). Advance tickets are available from: Ludwig Forum Aachen, Buchhandlung am Markt in Aachen-Brand, Buchhandlung Backhaus and Buchhandlung Schmetz am Dom.

The supporting program
The opening of the exhibition "A memory of a great Aachen playwright" at the International Newspaper Museum on Tuesday, September 9, at 3 p.m. heralds the anticipation of the upcoming award ceremony. The exhibition, in cooperation with the Walter Hasenclever Society, uses texts, pictures and newspaper clippings to show milestones in the life and work of the Aachen playwright up to his death in 1940.

Prof. Gilles Darras invites you to his lecture on Wednesday, September 10, at 6 p.m. followed by a discussion entitled "God is also with the enemies. Walter Hasenclever's conversion to pacifism in his expressionist drama Antigone" at the Centre Charlemagne. In his lecture in German, the French professor of literature will shed light on Hasenclever's adaptation of the ancient drama "Antigone", his experiences of war and his turn to pacifism. "The lecture deals with a highly topical subject that can be the subject of much discussion," explains Axel Schneider, Chairman of the Walter Hasenclever Society and jury chairman. Please register by e-mail to kultur@mail.aachen.de.

"Aachen reads Hasenclever": on Thursday, September 11, at 6 pm, culture lovers, schoolchildren and booksellers, among others, will come together at the Centre Charlemagne to read specially selected short passages from Hasenclever's work. For example, the head of cultural affairs, Heinrich Brötz, and teacher Bettina Baumann will read aloud with pupils from Einhard-Gymnasium under the moderation of Axel Schneider. Writer Suleman Taufiq, who, like Hasenclever, looks back on decades of exile and was awarded the Hasenclever Prize in 1996, will also read.

One day after the award ceremony on Monday, September 22, at 11 a.m., the prizewinner Daniela Krien will join students in the auditorium of the Einhard-Gymnasium on Robert-Schuman-Straße for a discussion entitled "She just sat there and listened". The event is open to the public and admission is free. Registration is requested at baumann@einhard-gymnasium.de.

Walter Hasenclever
Walter Hasenclever was born in Aachen on July 8, 1890. He died on June 21, 1940 in an internment camp in the south of France. His lyrical work and his drama "The Son", which premiered in 1916, made him an exponent of literary expressionism. In 1917 he was awarded the Kleist Prize and from 1924 to 1930 he lived as a journalist in Paris. During this time, he wrote a series of plays. At times, he became the most frequently performed playwright in the German-speaking world. In 1930, Hasenclever worked as a screenwriter for Greta Garbos in Hollywood. In 1933, his works were banned and burned in Germany. As a critic of the regime, he was also physically endangered and fled into exile, where he committed suicide in the face of Germany's success in the war.