The globale° Festival for Transnational Literature is a political festival that focuses primarily on contemporary literature. At its core, it deals with the world in which we currently live. And as the name of the festival suggests, it does not focus solely on German-language literature, but is also influenced by international authors. The literature festival was launched by globale e.V. in 2007. Programmatically, it resonates with the Prix de la Porte Dorée for a fictional work or literary report dealing with topics such as exile, migration, multiple identities or migration biographies, which is awarded annually by the Musée de l'histoire de l'immigration in Paris. Alongside other German cultural institutions such as the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, the Übersee-Museum Bremen and the City Library, as well as educational institutions such as the University of Bremen, it is a partner of globale°. Since 2008, there has also been the young globale°. Its task is to give young audiences their own access to globale° through programme items tailored to their target group. In addition, the young globale° has set itself the task of inspiring young people to engage with literature in all its facets, even outside the literature festival. Since 2022, in cooperation with the University of Bremen, the so-called literature laboratories – LitLabs for short – have been taking place at the University of Bremen as the first humanities school laboratories.
Who is the new coordinator of junge globale°?
In an interview with research assistant Myriam Macé, who took over the coordination of junge globale° from the outgoing Dr. Ina Schenker in September 2025, she talked about herself. Macé is a member of Prof. Dr. Karen Struve's working group and is currently writing her dissertation on female self-portrayals in autobiographical ‘bandes dessinées’ (French-language comics). She previously studied art and French at the University of Bremen with the aim of becoming a teacher, but returned to academia after completing her teaching internship and her first job as a teacher. While for Dr Schenker, junge globale° was part of her work in the field of transfer, for Macé it is not a task within her university contract, but something she does on a freelance basis. She has a kind of dual role, in which the coordination of junge globale° and LitLabs and her research at the University of Bremen are separate areas of work.
What makes globale° so special?
According to Macé, it is precisely the theme of crossing boundaries that sets it apart from other German literature festivals. Originally, the programme crossed boundaries by inviting authors with a migrant background, following the French model of the Prix de la Porte Dorée. To date, the concept has expanded to include not only geographical boundaries but also linguistic, ideological and fictional ones. According to Macé, this offers people with different native languages, cultures, sexualities and socialisations the opportunity to identify with the festival's literary selection. At globale° readings, foreign-language works are not simply translated into German. The authors usually read their texts in the original language and are supported in conversation by simultaneous translations. In this way, the festival stands for the appreciation of multilingualism and cultural diversity. The 36 authors listed come from all over the world and their works have been written in languages such as English, Italian, Turkish, Czech and French.. In addition to traditional ‘water glass readings,’ the globale° programme offers a wide variety of event formats that, according to Macé, break down the boundaries of conventional readings. This year, for example, a reading of Jaroslav Rudiš's 2025 Spiegel bestseller ‘Gebrauchsanweisung für Bier’ (Instructions for Beer) took place at the Union Brewery with Dr Urania Milevski, and instead of water glasses, beer mugs were raised. Another different concept was offered by the event for the novel ‘Kommando Ajax’ (2024) by author Cemile Sahin. This was adopted as a scenic reading with acting, while the author took on the role of narrator. The reading quickly developed into a live radio play. Macé also mentioned the multimedia reading of Pierre Jarawan's Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon, 2025), in which the reading sequences were accompanied by an impressive slide show. However, the globale° programme varies not only in the type of reading formats, but also in the selection of authors. In addition to big names such as David Safier, the organisers also select young authors with their debut works for the programme. Among others, the young author Éric Chacour was given the opportunity to present his novel ‘Ce que je sais de toi’ (English translation ‘What I Know About You’, 2023), which was successful in Canada, in Bremen.
What does Myriam Macé wish for globale° 2026?
In the aftermath of this year's globale°, Myriam Macé expresses a specific wish for the upcoming edition in 2026: despite positive developments in terms of attracting a cross-generational audience, she would like to see more students among the visitors. Macé therefore asks herself: how can we get students to attend globale°, which, with its young globale° programme, is aimed not only at school pupils in Bremen but also at students?
What does (young) global° offer students and lecturers?
In order to exclude as few young people as possible from events due to social inequalities, free offers are made available every year in cooperation with EuropaPunktBremen, Bremen City Library, various bookshops, the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art and the Bremen Chamber of Employees, among others. Even if this is not feasible for the entire programme, it is a major advantage over other literature festivals, according to Macé. The globale° supports students by organising literary events specifically for a young audience. In addition, workshops by the junge globale° are held in cooperation with the university (LitLabs) as part of the festival and throughout the year. These are particularly suitable for students in Department 10 – not only German studies, but also other subjects – to help them find their own career prospects. For example, the young globale° 2024 organised workshops on working in publishing and as a translator, as well as a binational, bilingual project on creative writing with the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle. In addition, the global° festival offers three to four paid internships each year. These allow students to help plan the festival in advance and then experience it first-hand. The interns' tasks include posting short reports on the events on social media channels and providing direct support to the authors in advance.
According to Macé, this provides exciting behind-the-scenes insights into the planning and organisation of the festival. For those who are more interested in the audience perspective of globale°, Prof. Dr. phil. Karen Struve and Daniel Schmidt, among others, offer regular seminars that accompany globale°. According to Macé, the young globale° also offers teacher training students in their practical semester and trainee teachers a great opportunity to shape their future teaching. This is because it is always open to requests from teachers on specific literary, global and cross-border topics and to organising workshops lasting several days with authors who are relevant to the topic. The offer is not limited to German lessons. Other language, art and social science subjects can also collaborate with junge globale° on the topic of crossing borders and benefit from this offer. Macé attaches particular importance to the fact that writing workshops in particular take place explicitly detached from school performance pressure and aim to promote creativity and multilingualism among pupils.
Coordinator Myriam Macé concludes with an appeal to all students and teachers at the University of Bremen and Bremen schools: "If you have any ideas or requests for activities, please feel free to contact junge globale°. We can put you in touch with authors and also provide financial support (in part). You can find the contact details on the following website: https://www.uni-bremen.de/fb-10/studium/romanistik/franzoesische-literaturwissenschaft/litlab-das-literaturlabor-des-fb10."
Pascal Kostiw is in his fourth semester of a bachelor's degree in German language and literature and cultural studies at the University of Bremen. This article was written as part of a seminar on online journalism. The idea of exploring the young global° came up during a class discussion.
