Town clerk residence
Chemnitz author Hans Brinkmann in the Finnish twin city Tampere
At the invitation of the German Cultural Centre Tampere and the Goethe-Institut Finland, author Hans Brinkmann, who lives in Chemnitz, visited the Finnish twin city in October 2019 as a writer-in-residence. In addition to a long-standing city partnership that has existed since 1961, Chemnitz and Tampere are also linked by an ongoing bid for the title of European Capital of Culture. Chemnitz is known to be applying for 2025 and Tampere for 2026, which was also the background for the selection of this year's City Scribe. Traditionally, every autumn a German-language writer spends a month in Tampere as a writer-in-residence, receiving financial and non-material support from the City of Tampere's Department of Culture, the German Cultural Centre Tampere and the Goethe-Institut Finland.
During his residency, Hans Brinkmann wrote several blog texts, which were also translated into Finnish and published on the website of the German Cultural Centre Tampere. Other elements of the residency programme included public appearances. At readings at the Helsinki Book Fair, a Hans Brinkmann evening at the University of Tampere and on the Day of Finnish Literature at the Finnish Book Museum Pukstaavi in Sastamala, he presented his own works, some of which were also read in Finnish and Japanese. An improv evening with poetry by Hans Brinkmann and music by Maria Mattila (guitar) was also part of the programme, as was networking during a visit to the studio of photographer, filmmaker and poet Aimo Hyvärinen and in a think tank with creative people from Tampere at a workshop on creative writing, spoken word, painting, music, getting to know each other and dialogue between Tampere and Chemnitz.
