Memo Ánjel gets the heart of the Germans

Sunday, 28 March 2010 02:09 |

This is an article of Professor Alberto Zuleta, a Colombian scholar in Berlin and Leipzig (Germany) about the Colombian writer José Guillermo Ángel Rendo (Memo Ánjel.) The writer just visited Germany to introduce his last book that was translated in German. On the picture Ángel is among Ms. Daniela Koch, editor of Rotpunkt Verlag to the right and Ms. Antonia Stock of Litprom.

Berlin | ColombiaPassport | March 27, 2010

The writer of Sephardi origin participated in representing Colombia in several important literature meetings in Germany. After reading in Bern of his more recent translated book to German (Mindeles Liebe), Anjel began his tour through the country in Berlin. In the capital of the Federal Republic he was interviewed by the Cultural German Radio Station (Deutschlandradio Kultur) and after that he participated in a gathering organized by some embassies of Latin American countries that was moderated by Michi Strausfeld, a German expert in Latin American literature.

The other invited writers were Tununa Mercado (Argentina), Luis Pulido Ritter (Panama) and Leonardo Valencia (Ecuador.) The well attended event took place in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, within the context of the current Bicentenary Independence of the Latin American countries.

Continuing the launch book of the cited book, which original title is ´Míndele 1955´, it won a special recognition in the 8th Novel and Short Story Contest of the Medellín´s Chamber of Commerce. The author read in the Lettrétage Literature Center with the cooperation of the Embassy of Colombia and the Interchange Services of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD in German). After the reading the listeners had the opportunity to make comments about the works and educational activities to the novelist and essayist.

His next stop was at the Leipzig Book Fair, where he was the Colombian author present in the stand organized by the University of Leipzig and supported also by the Embassies of some Latin American countries and the Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature (litprom.) At the end of the reading the writer answered questions about his literary work and the life of the Jews in Medellín. Besides the Book Fair, he introduced also his work in the Center of Jews Culture of Leipzig.

The last stop in Germany was in the launch of his novel in Stuttgart, where he hold a reading at the Galerie el Pacifico, always with the support of the Rotpunkt Verlag, the Swiss Publisher that promotes the work of this Antioquean, who makes his stakes at stories without violence. Memo Ánjel – as he likes to be known – shows in his novels the life of the families, focusing in love and tradition, something that catch the attention of the German readers. It wants to prove that in our country not everything is mafia and tropical music.

Last Updated (Sunday, 28 March 2010 02:31)

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