TUEBINGEN/DURHAM LITERARY/ARTS TWINNING
The partnership with County Durham and the City of Tuebingen in South Germany was established in 1969.
Poet
Doctor Keith Armstrong, who gained his doctorate at the University on
Durham in 2007, following on from Bachelor's and Master's degrees there,
first visited Tuebingen in November 1987 to give readings and talks for
a period of three weeks. Since then he has travelled to the city over
40 times and helped arrange for Durham and North East poets, musicians
and artists and their counterparts in Tuebingen to visit their
respective cultural twins.
TO HELP CELEBRATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE OFFICIAL TWINNING, KEITH RETURNED TO TUEBINGEN FROM JULY 3RD TO
7TH 2019 AT THE INVITATION OF THE CULTURAL OFFICE IN TUEBINGEN WHEN HE
APPEARED AT THE BOOK FESTIVAL TO READ FROM HIS LATEST TUEBINGEN POETRY
AND FROM THE TUEBINGEN/DURHAM LITERARY ANTHOLOGY 'WORD SHARING'.
HE TRAVELLED WITH NORTHUMBRIAN PIPER CHRIS ORMSTON AND WAS JOINED BY TUEBINGEN PERFORMERS AND FRIENDS FOR THE OCCASION.
MOVING ON TO 2020, KEITH IS NOW WORKING ON A COLLABORATION WITH TUEBINGEN PHOTOGRAPHER ULRICH METZ.
AND
DON'T FORGET THE UPDATED COLLECTION OF KEITH'S TUEBINGEN POEMS (1987 TO DATE),
'HERMANN HESSE IN THE GUTTER', IS NOW AVAILABLE AT £5 FROM NORTHERN VOICES
COMMUNITY PROJECTS.
THE STORY SO FAR:
Keith returned to
Tuebingen in September 2016 for readings of his poems inspired by his
visits to Tuebingen over the years, including a literary promenade
around the old town and along the Neckar accompanied by accordionist
Peter Weiss.
He was also there in November 2017 with fellow poet
Paul Summers and folk musician Gary Miller to attend the launch of a new
anthology, Word Sharing, published by the Cultural Office in Tuebingen
and edited by Carolyn Murphey Melchers and Michael Raffel in Tuebingen
and Keith Armstrong in Durham to mark 30 years of the literary twinning
between Tuebingen and Durham and featuring a selection of poetry by some
22 writers from Tuebingen and Durham.
The anthology had its Durham
launch as part of a World Book Day event on Monday 23rd April 2018 at
the University of Durham. Special guests at the event were writers
Andrea Mittag and Matthias Kaiser from Tuebingen who read alongside
Durham poets Jackie Litherland, Katrina Porteous, Paul Summers, Rob
Walton and Keith Armstrong, with Durham folk music from Gary Miller and
Mick Tyas - all in all, a memorable occasion with wine, poetry and song!
Andrea and Matthias also appeared at specially arrranged seminars in
the English and German Departments of the University of Durham.
Before
this, Tuebingen poets Anna Fedorova and Yannick Lengkeek came to Durham
in November 2015 for readings and discussions, with Manuela Schmidt and
Florian Neuner following suit in April 2017, and Eva Christina Zeller
returned to Durham in November 2017 as part of the exchange programme
for readings and workshops at the University.
Looking further
back, a special celebration of the literary/arts links between the
cultural partners was held on May 17th 2015 at Tuebingen’s Club Voltaire
as part of the Tuebingen Buecherfest. This was arranged by poet Tibor
Schneider, Michael Raffel of the Buecherfest and Doctor Armstrong. Those
featured included Gary Miller, singer/songwriter from Durham band ‘The
Whisky Priests’, poets Carolyn Murphey Melchers, Sara Hauser, Anna
Fedorova, Yannick Lengkeek and Tibor Schneider and rock musician Juergen
Sturm with Mary Jane.
Keith Armstrong was also in Tuebingen from
Tuesday 11th November 2014 to Saturday 15th when he performed his
poetry in the legendary Heckenhauer’s Bookshop, one of his favourite
bars The Boulanger, at the Carlo-Schmid-Gymnasium (school) and at
Weinhaus Beck for a poetry breakfast. He was joined by Tibor Schneider,
Sara Hauser, Yannick Lengkeek and Anna Fedorova with Peter Weiss on
accordion and Juergen Sturm on rock guitar and vocals.
Before
this, he was in Tuebingen from Wednesday 2nd to Saturday 5th April 2014
with artist/photographer Peter Dixon for readings with Tuebingen writers
Eva Christina Zeller, Sara Hauser, Tibor Schneider and Florian Neuner
at Weinhaus Beck, a school visit and other networking initiatives. This
followed on from his visit from Monday 4th November to Thursday 7th 2013
when he took part in a major symposium on the theme of writer Hermann
Hesse who lived and worked in Tuebingen from 1895-1899. As well as
joining in with the discussions and giving a reading from his poems on
Hesse and Tuebingen, Keith met with poets, academics, teachers,
musicians, cultural and media workers.
Sara Hauser visited
Durham from Monday 12th to Thursday 15th May 2014 for sessions at the
University's English and German Departments and meetings with local
writers, artists and musicians.
So the twinning continues to go from
strength to strength. Looking back on things, Armstrong and folk rock
musician Gary Miller, lead singer of Durham band the Whisky Priests,
travelled to Tuebingen at the end of March 2012 for performances in
pubs, cabaret venues and schools where they performed with Tuebingen
poet Tibor Schneider who visited Durham in October of that year as part
of the ongoing exchange.
Tibor joined his Durham counterparts for
readings at Durham University and at the Half Moon Inn. He was also
interviewed on BBC Radio Tees concerning his Durham visit.
Keith
Armstrong and Gary Miller returned the compliment with a trip to
Tuebingen in March 2013 where they performed again in bars, cafes and
schools with poets Tibor Schneider, Sara Hauser and Tuebingen musicians.
In 2011, Tuebingen rock musician Juergen Sturm jetted in with his
music partner Mary Jane at the end of October for pub gigs, including a
twinning event in Durham on Monday 31st October featuring Juergen and
Mary Jane with Durham folk musicians and poets. That followed on from a
visit to Tuebingen in South Germany in early April 2011 by Keith
Armstrong and photographer/artist Peter Dixon. The intrepid pair worked
together on a touring display featuring Armstrong's poems and Dixon's
photographs documenting the unique link between Tuebingen and Durham
which was staged initially in the Durham Room at County Hall, Durham in
November. Armstrong performed his poetry in cafes, bars and schools and
met up with Tuebingen friends, old and new, with the multi-talented
Dixon capturing all of it on film.
This trip reciprocated a
visit to Durham in November 2010 by Tuebingen poets Henning Ziebritzki
and Carolyn Murphey Melchers, when Juergen Stuerm also took part in a
series of pub performances. There was a special event at Clayport
Library, Durham City on Monday November 1st with the Tuebingen poets and
special guests from Durham, followed by a rousing session in the Dun
Cow when Juergen, with Mary Jane, and his Durham counterparts, Gary
Miller and Marie Little belted out their lively songs.
Armstrong was
also in Tuebingen in May 2010 with Gary Miller for performances in his
favourite Tuebingen bar ‘The Boulanger’ and at a local school. This
followed a special guest appearance in 2009 at the biannual Book
Festival, a reading with Tuebingen counterpart Eva Christina Zeller and a
visit to local schools. Eva visited Durham for readings in schools and
at a special event on May 13th 2009 at Clayport Library which also
featured poets Katrina Porteous, Jackie Litherland, Cynthia Fuller, and
William Martin, as well as Doctor Armstrong and music from the Durham
Scratch Choir and Andy Jackson.
A highly successful series of
events were held in 2007 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the
literary/arts twinning established by Keith Armstrong when he first
visited Tuebingen in 1987 for a month’s residency, supported by Durham
County Council and Tuebingen’s Kulturamt. Since then, there have been
readings and performances in pubs, universities and castles, schools,
libraries, book festivals, jazz and cabaret clubs, even in Hermann
Hesse’s old apartment, involving poets, writers, teachers and musicians
from the twin partnerships of Durham and Tuebingen.
Tuebingen’s music
duo Acoustic Storm, poet/translator Carolyn Murphey Melchers and
Cultural Officer visited Durham and the North East in October/November
2007. The musicians performed in Durham schools and pubs and there was a
special evening in Durham’s Clayport Library to celebrate the twinning,
with Keith Armstrong launching his new Tuebingen poetry booklet and
performances by poets Carolyn Murphey Melchers, Katrina Porteous,
William Martin, Michael Standen, Ian Horn, Cynthia Fuller, Hugh Doyle
and musicians Acoustic Storm, Marie Little and Gary Miller. Margit
Aldinger of the Kulturamt in Tuebingen and Brian Stobie of the
International Department, Durham County Council, also addressed the
audience.
For the record, here's a list of those who have made it happen so far:
Tuebingen visitors to Durham since 1987:
Carolyn
Murphey Melchers, Karin Miedler, Gerhard Oberlin, Uwe Kolbe, Johannes
Bauer, Eva Christina Zeller, Simone Mittmann, Florian Werner, Juergen
Sturm, Mary Jane, Wolf Abromeit, Christopher Harvie, Eberhard Bort,
Marcus Hammerschmitt, Henning Ziebritzki, Andy and Alessandra Fazion
Marx, Otto Buchegger, Tibor Schneider, Sara Hauser, Anna Fedorova,
Yannick Lengkeek, Manuela Schmidt, Florian Neuner, Andrea Mittag,
Matthias Kaiser.
Durham visitors to Tuebingen since 1987:
Keith
Armstrong, the late Michael Standen (Colpitts Poetry), the late Julia
Darling, Andy Jackson, Fiona MacPherson, Katrina Porteous, Marie Little,
Ian Horn (Colpitts Poetry), the late Alan C. Brown, Linda France,
Jackie Litherland (Colpitts Poetry), Cynthia Fuller, Margaret Wilkinson,
Jez Lowe, the late Jack Routledge, Gary Miller, Matthew Burge, David
Stead, Hugh Doyle, Peter Dixon, Paul Summers, Chris Ormston.
FURTHER INFORMATION: NORTHERN VOICES COMMUNITY PROJECTS TEL. 0191 2529531.
