1. Berliner Leseabend der toten Sprachen

The inception of Leseabend der toten Sprachen (LetoS) traces back to 2015 at Universität Marburg. It blossomed as a dynamic gathering, inviting individuals to resurrect their cherished dead languages through the expressive mediums of reading, singing, or performing captivating texts drawn from the diverse landscapes of ancient literatures.

After attending the original LetoS in Marburg and engaging with the highly paradoxical text “Thunder, perfect mind” from the Nag Hammadi library—listen here—I was inspired to bring a similar event to Berlin.

Our inaugural event in Berlin showcased a variety of languages: tragic and comedic Latin, Macedonian, Homeric and Aeolic Greek, Rigvedic Sanskrit, Middle Chinese and Sahidic Coptic. For more detail on the programme, see the announcement here (in German). For a retrospective report (also in German) on the event with a recording and photos, click here.

The slides for my reading of disturbing Coptic monk stories complete with even more desturbing AI generated images can be found here:

You can listen to the texts here: