Veranstaltungsarchiv Villa Aurora

2026

Donnerstag, 29.01.2026
Donnerstag, 12.02.2026
Donnerstag, 26.02.2026
Donnerstag, 09.04.2026
Donnerstag, 23.04.2026
Donnerstag, 21.05.2026
Sonntag, 31.05.2026
Mittwoch, 03.06.2026

Participants

Monika Czernin

Monika Czernin is an internationally renowned author and filmmaker. Her research
focuses on key figures and turning points of European history, and her book, Anna Sacher
and Her Hotel, spent many weeks on the bestseller lists in Germany. Czernin was awarded
the Friedrich Schiedel Literature Prize in 2023 for The Emperor Incognito (German edition).
She is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Claudia Gordon

Claudia Gordon earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the university of
Göttingen/Germany. From 2002 – 2007, she was the Director of Villa Aurora, a position she
assumed again in 2020. In addition, Claudia serves as Director of Administration for Villa
Aurora; Thomas Mann House Los Angeles. Most recently, she co-edited the publication
Villa Aurora: Exile, Art, and Freedom in Los Angeles (Distanz, 2025).

Partner

This event is presented by The Austrian Consulate General, Villa Aurora and the MAK Center for Art and Architecture.

The Emperor Incognito is published by Haus Publishing. 

Samstag, 06.06.2026
Donnerstag, 16.07.2026
Sonntag, 30.08.2026
Donnerstag, 10.09.2026

Participants

Michael Lentz

Michael Lentz was born in Düren. He studied German language and literature, philosophy, and history in Aachen and Munich, earning his doctorate in 1998 with a thesis on sound poetry and sound music after 1945. He lives in Berlin and Leipzig.
Lentz is a writer, musician, performance artist, literary scholar, and editor. He has published numerous novels, poetry collections, radio plays, audiobooks (CDs), stage plays, and essays, as well as works of acoustic literature and musical compositions. Most recently, he edited the *Neue Rundschau* issue titled "Briefgedicht Klanggedicht Liedgedicht Metagedicht Gedichtgedicht" (Letter Poem, Sound Poem, Song Poem, Meta-Poem, Poem-Poem; Issue 4/2025, S. Fischer 2026).
As a saxophonist, this "gifted artist of language" (Andreas Puff-Trojan, Südwestrundfunk) performs in ensembles such as the trios Lentz Geisse Wertmüller and Lentz Pliakas Wertmüller (alongside Gunnar Geisse, Marino Pliakas, and Michael Wertmüller).
In 2006, Michael Lentz was appointed Professor of Literary Writing at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig, a position he holds to this day. He has been a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature since 2014.
Lentz has received numerous awards, including the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize (2001), the Prize of the Literature Houses (2005), the Walter Hasenclever Literature Prize (2012), and, most recently, the Bettina Brentano Prize for Contemporary Poetry (2024). He has held visiting professorships in poetics in cities including Frankfurt, Kiel, Cologne, Paderborn, and Vienna.

 

Selected Publications:

Heimwärts, Roman. S. Fischer (2024)
Grönemeyer, S. Fischer (2024)
Chora Gedichte, S. Fischer (2023)
Schattenfroh. Ein Requiem, Roman. S. Fischer (2018)
Atmen Ordnung Abgrund, Frankfurter Poetikvorlesungen. S. Fischer (2013)
Offene Unruh Gedichte, S. Fischer (2010)
Pazifik Exil, Roman S. Fischer (2007)
Muttersterben, Erzählungen. S. Fischer (2002)

Max Lawton

Max Lawton was born in Brussels and grew up in Chicago.

He received his BA in Russian Literature and Culture from Columbia University. He received the Clarendon Fund Scholarship for his Masters of Philosophy from The Queen's College, Oxford. He lives in Los Angeles.

In addition to Russian, Lawton has translated from French and German, such as Jonathan Littell's The Damp and the Dry and Michael Lentz's novel Schattenfroh.

Lawton's translation of Red Pyramid: Selected Stories by Vladimir Sorokin won the 2025 AATSEEL prize for Best Translation of Prose into English. In 2026, Lawton's translation of Schattenfroh by Michael Lentz from German to English won the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize.

Partner

Schattenfroh. A Requiem is published by Deep Vellum Publishing