Literature at Würth

Tubingen Poetics Lectureship

The promotion of literature and word art is very popular with Würth. Since 1996 the Tübingen Poetics Lectureship at the German department of the Tubingen Eberhard Karl’s University, one of the Würth Foundation’s projects, has been providing thought-provoking impulses for discussions and food for thought from and with authors like Susan Sontag, Günter Grass, Amos Oz, Jonathan Franzen, Juli Zeh, Christoph Ransmayr, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Siri Hustvedt or Karl Ove Knausgård. Designed as a forum for cultural encounters, both students, lecturers and members of the university as well as a wide general public from Tübingen and area have the opportunity here once a year – usually in November – to get to know outstanding authors and personalities from both Germany and abroad and to talk to them. The lectureship initiates and intensifies not only the inner-university, interdisciplinary dialogue, but also invites cultural exchange between the university and the region. Traditionally, there is also one lecture held in the Kunsthalle Würth in Schwäbisch Hall.

Würth Prize for European Literature

The Würth Prize for European literature is endowed with 25,000 Euros by the Würth Foundation and it is awarded every two years. The prize honours literary endeavours for cultural diversity in Europe. It draws attention to a Europe of many voices, borders and nuances, of differences and mixing.

The list of the award winners up to now goes from Hermann Lenz to Claudio Magris, Claude Vigée, Harald Hartung, Herta Müller, Peter Turrini, Ilija Trojanow, Hanna Krall, Péter Nádas, Peter Handke, Christoph Ransmayr and David Grossman and reads like a Who’s who of contemporary literature.

Kulturhaus Würth with the Frau Holle Library

Founded on Carmen Würth’s initiative in 2017, Kulturhaus Würth with its Frau Holle library in the centre of Künzelsau sees itself as a cultural meeting place, also for holding events, conferences or learning with a very varied programme.

The barrier-free hall with its superb technical equipment holds up to 100 people and is very popular for town events or other external events The heart of this house with its charming interior is however Carmen Würth’s private library which is also freely accessible to the general public. The Frau Holle Library in the pleasant atmosphere of the upper storey contains about 9,000 books. These include bibliophile treasures and books from all realms of literature: picture books and children’s literature, cookery books and non-fiction, reference books, poetry and fiction, in short all kinds of literature from the classics and books to lose yourself in, to philosophical and sociological reflections. The reading matter can be found by rummaging around or looking it up and then visitors can carry on reading in the cosy reading alcoves. The wide thematic range is thus also the programme as the initiator of Kulturhaus Würth requires it to reflect diversity and promote an open society. In literature, analysing, discussing and getting to know other people can also contribute to this aim as is shown by the many events held at Kulturhaus Würth which are connected with the spoken, sung or written word.

Also Frau Holle, for the name of the library is not just a matter of chance as fairy tales translate important human experiences and situations in life into symbols and images whose meaning can already be recognized by children with their fine senses and intuition before they are old enough to read.

Readings, Lectures and Word Art Events

Frequently readings, lectures and word art events accompany the exhibitions in the Würth museums: actor Joseph Lorenz read from Joseph Roth‘s Hiob, as the novel inspired painter Siegfried Anzinger to produce a whole sequence of paintings; the actress Claudia Michelsen interpreted Marlene Dietrich in the context of the exhibition of the Berlin painter Christopher Lehmpfuhl; and a narrator ensemble from the Stuttgart Academy for the spoken word evoked a portrait of the French city with its programme ‘Écoute! Voices from Paris’ for the exhibition From Henri Matisse to Louise Bourgeois. The Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris as guest of Kunstalle Würth. The accompanying events create new aesthetic contexts and allow the themes of the exhibitions to become alive in a surprising way.