Literatour d'Europe - GLENN BECH »ICH ERKENNE EURE AUTORITÄT NICHT LÄNGER AN«

Moderation: Sina Lynn Sachse
Consecutive translation: Miriam Lindermeir
Reading of the German texts: Paul Michael Stiehler

How can it be that artists bask in their flaunted queerness, while elsewhere gays are barely allowed out of the house at night - and nobody cares? How can it be that the rich get richer and richer, the educated urban elite cower in their ivory towers, while others have to be happy just to be able to afford secondary school? And above all, how can it be that the enlightened people in our Western societies are oblivious to all this?
Glenn Bech is a practicing psychologist, a provincial gay man, a victim of bullying and comes from a dysfunctional family in the most precarious of circumstances. His manifesto "I no longer recognize your authority" puts its finger in the wound of our Western, heterosexual, success-spoiled arrogance - in such a way that it hurts. In his direct, poetic prose, he works his way through identity and identities, class society, social violence and the systematic defamation and discrimination of homosexuals today, in the middle of Western Europe.

Glenn Bech (* 1991) studied psychology and literary writing. His highly acclaimed debut novel Farskibet ('Fatherhood') was published in January 2021 and quickly made him famous. Published in September 2022, I no longer recognize your authority was greeted frenetically by the press and went through the roof in Denmark. Glenn Bech was overwhelmingly awarded the prestigious Politiken magazine literary prize and the Blixen Prize. Since then, he has become a real star in Denmark and is in demand nationwide for columns, podcasts and interviews. Often compared to Edouard Louis, he has struck a chord with those who feel forgotten and betrayed by politics and society, those who are left behind and marginalized. As a psychologist and author, Bech has shown great personal commitment to the educational opportunities of socially disadvantaged people.

In cooperation with the Regional Representation of the European Commission in Bonn
Supported by the Kunststiftung NRW.