Übersetzen & Weltretten: Orwell and the Internet Trolls

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Program

Orwell und die Internettrolle

conversation

lecture

(c) Weltlesebühne

Date:

Sun

13 Sep 2026

Time:

7:00 PM

Location:

Lettrétage, Veteranenstr. 21, 10119 Berlin

Language:

German

Admission:

free

Orwell and the Internet Trolls

Dystopias hold a mirror up to our world. Some even manage to do so with humor, like the Slovak writer Michal Hvorecký in Troll (2018). The novel, which warns of the threats to democratic societies in the digital age, is strongly reminiscent of Orwell’s analysis of totalitarian structures in 1984, including its linguistic distortion of reality. Hvorecký’s translator Mirko Kraetsch and Orwell’s translator Frank Heibert discuss the relevance of these visions in today’s fake news industry and share their respective approaches to translating new and classic dystopias.

Übersetzen & Weltretten – a festival that puts literary translation in the spotlight and sparks a glimmer of utopia in socio-political debates.

From September 11–25, 2026, the festival organized by Weltlesebühne e. V. invites you to rediscover the transformative power of literature. How can utopias and dystopias help us design the society of tomorrow? Through discussions, readings, workshops, and participatory formats, the festival celebrates the cultural diversity of utopian and dystopian literature from various languages and demonstrates exactly how translators open paths to a different world.

For more information, please visit: weltretten.weltlesebuehne.de

»Übersetzen & Weltretten« is organized by Weltlesebühne e. V. and the TOLEDO Programme of the Deutscher Übersetzerfonds, in collaboration with the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin and Lettrétage , with the kind support of the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin (ZLB). The festival is funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and the Deutscher Übersetzerfonds.

https://www.instagram.com/uebersetzenundweltretten_

Frank Heibert, born in Essen in 1960, lives in Berlin, where he works as a literary and theater translator alongside his husband, Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel. He has translated approximately 120 works of prose and 120 plays from English, French, Italian, and Portuguese, including works by Don DeLillo, Richard Ford, William Faulkner, George Orwell, George Saunders, Neil LaBute, Tony Kushner, Boris Vian, Raymond Queneau, Marie Darrieussecq, Yasmina Reza, Aldo Busi, Curzio Malaparte, and Jorge de Sena. He is also active as a lecturer, author (novels, essays), critic, moderator, and jazz singer. He has received various translation awards.

Mirko Kraetsch, born in Dresden in 1971, translates from Czech and Slovak across all literary genres. He hosts readings, gives lectures, and leads workshops. He serves as a volunteer board member for the VdÜ and Weltlesebühne e. V., and is also a member of the Munich Translators' Forum, the Austrian Forum for Literary Translation, and the Slovak association DoSlov. His German translations include works by Michal Tallo, Marek Torčík, Iva Procházková, Markéta Pilátová, Irena Dousková, Michal Hvorecky, Peter Krištúfek, Emil Hakl, and Bianca Bellová.