i'm not nothing at. all i guess sometimes i am placed on nothing with the ten. deep into german culture. new to get his grandmother yeah you just it's all about who you know i'm rachel join me for me to get funky help host. welcome to arts twenty one today we check out the life sequel where. it's. the event is held every spring it is really popular with the reading public almost would simply takes a lot of walking around to see and do everything but it's all really interesting but there is a celebrated writers lots of new releases in great literature from a mid-sized country the czech republic is the twenty one thousand lives the book

fairs country of honor just good old i think it's great that people can discover all kinds of books here but they may not be familiar with us so let's get lost in good books but first a brief for you of the state of publishing if. no signs of gloom and doom of the lipstick book for the spite the fact that a major german book wholesaler recently the clear bankruptcy over started and but this time the book fairs bigger and more international financial. channel is making its debut here with publishers from across the country and they've brought along books in a wide variety of genres. the

first time here i am so i think i'd like to think it's open to public so it's interesting to get to meet that their readers i think it's also the place where. their new book are really every year so it's good to be there and to feel the trend and. readers can meet their favorite authors and then like in frankfurt stock up on books. this publisher is trying to attract young readers with a selfie competition. the more serious note this year's book fair focuses on south eastern europe and the erosion of democracy and freedom of speech . germany's federal agency for civic education is sponsoring a series of discussions and book reading thirty years of change and young people then and now. a student you can mention do you know what's happening with young people the ones who were born after nine hundred eighty nine who have no historical

reference points except perhaps through their parents' generation are they rebellious how are they dealing with responsibility. what are they thinking and feeling and what does europe mean to them before the physio evil but. many of the new books of the fair deal because historical events but focus on contemporary issues different offers a number of discussions with authors and experts. the topic is the future of the book publishing industry itself. facing stiff competition from e-books books in demand and self published money scripts has been the prize for the best self published book since two thousand and seven. last year monika from our won the prize for story. nobody wanted to publish it but now it's proving popular for our says self publishing offers a number of advantages. to mrs island's i miss aspect one major factor is the wide variety of topics that you can find in these kinds of books and that includes all sorts of margin. subjects that are just as important but don't appeal to the

mainstream publishers i mean spin people out i fired someone for example in my book i addressed the issue of sexual harassment. and i'm only been a single off i think it's extremely important to have a platform to initiate discussion us and it just isn't. the likes of fair shows that books and readers do still exist a recent study indicates that fewer people are buying books these days but those who do buy more. one of the stars of this year's event is the outspoken russian american journalist and activist mushing gessen she has been awarded the twenty nine thousand leipsic book fair award for european understanding. these days people are lining up to interview matia gessen the author of the award winning work the future is history

totalitarianism reclaimed russia. it makes a provocative claim. that. russia's future is shaped by its past and you might say that about any country but what i mean specifically about russia is that. the seventy four years of to tell a turn as i'm shaped an entirely different society than what we have seen elsewhere in the world russia has not told any story about its history and specifically the history of stalinist terror. stalin ruled the soviet union with an iron fist until nine hundred fifty three but even today the dictator is celebrated as the one who helped defeat hitler stalin dreamed of a mighty empire but millions of russians lost their lives as a result something that often goes unmentioned. and so it's very hard to tell a story about it but without a story

a society is unable to move forward so the future is history both in the sense that it's determined by history and that it's. it's a history that hasn't been told and also in english the future is history also means the future has gone. to change russia presents itself as a modern country to the outside world yet the nation is deeply divided for her book mushy guessing conducted interviews with russian men and women who were born in the one nine hundred eighty s. and lived with an inner turmoil to this day. i wanted to look at that generation i wanted to look at people who grew up in the ninety's because i think it's a very specific condition that hasn't been described that the condition of being a child and in stream the unstable society they needed to remember the collapse of the sage and when they were just seven years old they needed to be from different backgrounds so from different cities but also different class backgrounds with

a different relationship to power i want to use them in the sense as a vehicle to understanding some of the politics both of the perestroika era and of the ninety's i. guess since family immigrated to the u.s. from the soviet union in the one nine hundred eighty s. jewish intellectuals who saw no future there. was fourteen at the time ten years later she returned to moscow to work as a journalist. and the first time i went back to the soviet union was in march one thousand nine hundred one. one and there were. stray sions in the streets in the us giant it was rationed by three hundred thousand people people were talking but old important things there was actually politics happening people were talking about what the relationship between the individual and the state should be people were talking about how the government and society should be constitutes.

an era of huge change the soviet union was coming to an end russia was about to embark on a new era with new leadership. for journalists and i think a person there's nothing more exciting than being able to witness that up close so i you know i was i was i was so drawn to that that i just wanted to stay and keep writing the story and for most of the ninety's i did for most of the ninety's i felt that every story i wrote was a new story no one had written before i mean that's that's an amazing thing for a journalist to experience. then after to mulches decade president yeltsin presented x. k.g.b. officer vladimir putin as the country's new prime minister he vowed to return russia to its former greatness critics were silenced in twenty eleven when thousands protested against an allegedly rigged parliamentary election mushy guess

who was out on the front lines and had to leave russia as a result i think it was my participation in the protests. and my being very out as a queer person i had been publicly out for many many years and and it had never been a problem until the kremlin launched its anti-gay campaign in two thousand and twelve . then it suddenly became a problem and the reason i had to leave was because my family was directly threatened. with the removal of my oldest son who was adopted from the family in two thousand and thirteen guests and her partner and their three children relocated to new york since then she has spoken out publicly about the team's hunger for power and the irony of history that the us is now governed by a president who sees himself as a friend of putin however i mean there is no comparison right supposed to tell if her country and the united states is is a weakened dysfunctional democracy those are vastly different systems.

again since book focuses on russia under putin. it pulls no punches and now it is one of the twenty nine thousand lights the bookfair award for european understand. twenty nine thousand is a year of big anniversaries many are being celebrated in new books we turn the spotlight on three of our favorites. encounters with wild animals and exciting climbs up the sides of volcanoes it's all in a new illustrated account of alexander from home bold south american expedition. and revolvers bookmarks the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of germany's famous geographer and naturalist and explorer the book was inspired by home plant samples

sketches and newly released passages from his daily journal. it was an amazing journey full of adventures and new discoveries in both descriptions of his encounters with indigenous peoples are both vivid. and moving. on will describe the impact humans were already having on the environment and condemned slavery in cuba . living on no ship provided the rich and detailed illustrations for false nubile. the iconic painting mona lisa remains a mystery to this day the artist leonardo da vinci died in fifteen nineteen. and has written a new biography of davinci describing him as a universal genius and an early supporter of women's emancipation. fallen

says given she portrayed women who were intelligent and strong willed. for example ginevra givenchy a fifteenth century intellectual. for this painting love benefit when you're often called portrait of an unknown woman both proud and self-confident. she of holland's book portrays a uniquely talented artist who broke with tradition and developed new perspectives on women thought and the world in general. on july twentieth one thousand nine hundred sixty nine astronauts landed on the moon for the first time. and it was a worldwide media sensation. to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the event

a new book on the history of nasa the u.s. space agency has hit the shelves it's called the nasa archives sixty years in space written by british science journalist and space historian piers because only. it includes hundreds of photographs and rare documents from nasa's archives. the lavishly illustrated volume outlines the key role the u.s. space program plays in space technology. no nasa plans to send astronauts to mars perhaps as early as twenty thirty three. the next archives sixty years in space is a breathtaking trip through time and space.

this year's country of honor is the czech republic and the czechs have brought a lot of fine work along with them we talked to four featured writers before the big event. a majestic castle narrow alleyways numerous domes and talers and impressive bridges spanning the whole top of. prague is a jewel with a millennium of history a city on the move in central europe. the true steps of the communist era is history now prague is a popular destination for tourists from across the globe. to raise a small tumble of our lives here the writer observes the hustle and bustle and the czech capital from an amused distance. yes though it has first go to. visit that it could have. been happy is lucky.

yeah city kenya co-host keep up that he doesn't. get. to raise a similar to move on her living as a translator her first night. evil is the story of a young woman who's tried and failed to fit in once too often. hurt and disappointed she makes the radical decision to move into an old cupboard left in a courtyard. she come to buy and unborn and by there she could live with other people with her sister her girlfriend her family and. very daughter on me but she doesn't want to be there and deal with other people. the movie because she needs to deal with herself like i think is. that the same time she's somehow incapable of taking action right now

and can't afford her own apartment so that coverage gives her a bit of freedom in this provisional situation by height in their droves auditions it throughout so. she feels lost in a way which could perhaps only happen in the success driven consumer oriented western world it's a story about as honest as it is absurd. the one constant in the young protagonists life is a friendly vietnamese and he lets her use the washroom in a shop and gives her a smile and something to eat. this is more than a mere detail it's a nod to multiculturalism at a time when czech politicians often just parrots the country's mutinies minority. is the czech republic xenophobia. in twenty fifteen at the height of europe's refugee crisis the country accepted under two hundred people from and they did know about them is either for my generation it's extremely painful to hear that the

czech republic refused to accept refugees. i didn't refuse to the government refused to i myself helped refugees he said so i had the flu thing and got hold of me when i drove to hungary and took a good look at the situation. and i for my own opinion. so get mocked she says of course people in the czech republic appreciate the material freedoms the opportunities to travel that they have now but she says many people's mindsets are slower to change some feel insecure and don't know how to handle freedom. does that worry her not in the least. that he meant. i think people can see for themselves if they've elected the wrong politician. the elan the title as time goes on they notice ok maybe that wasn't so great. and his progress mind sometimes you have to try things out before you

realize that's a bad apple i won't use one of those again so take me call from. prague castle is the city's landmark and houses the office of the czech president. current president made last three months pro china and pro russia's stance has divided the country. in the ukraine conflict he sided with russia and in two thousand and fifteen he called the wave of refugees flooding into europe and organized invasion . yochim topo was shocked when simon was elected president he'd always fought for a truly free country both before ninety nine and after as a writer journalist and since twenty eleven as program director of the pov of the library. put this at the can history is like a huge pendulum with its one as high to one side as possible now it's right at the bottom but i hope to reach the other side again just as. was czechoslovakia the last president and the first president of the czech republic after slovakia seceded

in one thousand nine hundred three a former dissident hovel was also a celebrated writer and a moral authority. he personally brought yosh in total to the bottom of hava library shortly before his death his twenty eleven. kopel stayed on and continues to curate the library's cultural program as humble would have wanted. and he's kept on writing unusual novels his latest a sensitive person starts out as a road movie about a family of artists but soon turns into a commentary on modern european society pressure not to you know committee i'm too if i don't know this strange family is led by a father who is around my age of on and off so be it is too big he still has this desire to discover western europe the soviets. it is what has europe this mental image that he has no longer exists but is million on. a simple tool was instead

he encounters an unfriendly europe full of social tension plagued by crises and with accords of migrants walking around you that simple to overthrow where i am no and the thought of school. so he returns to his homeland with all of its awful scrap yards and bars it might not be the prettiest but at least it's good for the novel and topple the state award for literature in twenty seventeen and much public criticism. prague is booming and now is among the ten richest regions in europe the days when people here fought for socialism with a human face are long gone. it's easier to imagine franz kafka walking through the city's alleyways at the start of the twentieth century back then prague was a magnet for artists and authors writing in check and german as the city was still a part of the hapsburg empire.

assembled us and others yes everything's also nice looking so picturesque the one but underneath the surface there are a few graves a few bodies lying buried on top of one another. and we have to live with these corpses these ghosts of the past and the hilly. yourself brutish studied. history and says to do that you need to know german otherwise he'd never have been able to conduct the research for his novel into bags of that stuff or vinterberg last journey is a comical tribute to train travel central europe and life in general and rudisha wrote it in german. a month. when you look at the map of the railway routes in austria hungary in one nine hundred thirteen and compare it with a map of the routes in central europe today you can see how many are left hotels for heart disease i'm told that's all of these routes this station where we are now and they all existed back then only as good as in this caption damaso alice. together with his melancholy geriatric nurse john kraus ninety nine year old once

a winter very impacts on a journey into the past and taking his cue from a detailed guidebook dating from one thousand nine hundred thirteen he's drawn ever deeper into the country sister and his own. dad such a film. little nonstandard often assumes that i owned a game of chicken slovak and stop. all stuart's also some bloke months and one sister was the only a scot. looking ones and on that field since i was a communist and common from home still sometimes i known someone of afghans excision the soviets cause that's not the form which for leaders stands for towards the slightly. winter virg meanders through the course of history bringing the past to life in spite of these often sad events it's a sheer delight to be along for the ride.

in burning a three hour train trip from prague people have been also reconciling the past helped along by cut that sheen of pushkov as book the expulsion of. the boss and it's as if guy you don't need to see couple caught up in overstuffed. get them just come in on skype we call it it's going. to be a bully. who is not nice and who develops in ash upon a walk with an equally good. in supposing it's just a just all just to support bit i see there is deflection that's just the globe and you never did. burn always the second largest city in the czech republic in one thousand ten it had one hundred twenty thousand residents eighty thousand spoke german as their mother tongue the rest were czechs they lived peacefully with one another until the nazis marched him. around eleven thousand jews from burnell fall

victim to the nazis and countless opponents of hitler's regime were tortured and executed. when i moved to them my first fled then i every morning or every day passed around the sign which is on the old assad mehdi should glass want to go in the street and because i didn't know i think about the. german presence in my city i started to be interested in the why is this still in the story and what happened the other germans are better and more. began researching and soon discovered that this was a taboo subject in one thousand nine hundred five almost three million people most of the german population were driven out of the then czechoslovakia in bernal their expulsion was particularly violent during a deaf march as many as five thousand people lost their lives women children. and

the elderly cutter she spoke with a few of the survivors thanks to them i saw the history of czech history from absolutely different perspective and that's why i also found out that the during our education and i mean education of all children. but there was some blind. and. i had story right there voted. the expulsion of. is a moving novel but chock full of facts it's received a lot of attention in the czech media bernal has been finding ways to remember the victims of the death march since one thousand nine hundred five and twenty fifteen the city issued a public apology. was not always an uncomfortable read but like so many new books from the czech republic it's well worth the effort.

and that's all for march twenty one this time so until we meet again why not curl up with a good book. until then theaters in from life sick. eco

africa. maybe is on course to water sustainable future. of intent maced business battles the problem on solar energy it's a promising concept advice or a phone call and fun to ride and even use find rangers on patrol. thirteen w.

. how to cover more than just one reality. where i come from we have a transatlantic way of looking at things that's because my father is from germany my mother is from the united states of america and so i realized really early that it makes sense to explain different realities. and now here at the heart of the european union in brussels we have twenty eight different realities and so i think people are really looking for any journalist they can trust for them to make sense of this. but in this next office i work at the w. what's the connection between bread flour and the european union dinos guild

w correspondent and the baker john stretch this second line with the rules set by the team. no. smoking recipes for success. strategies that make a difference. baking bread on d.w. . frank food can help watch international gateway to the best connection self in the road and radio. located in the heart of europe connected to the whole world. experience outstanding shopping and dining offers and try our services. biala guest at frankfurt airport city managed by from a bought. this

is did a million years live or less give us another people's vote hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of london calling on lawmakers to hold a second referendum on the eve of his departure from the e.u. . also coming up press t.v. agency's evacuated crew ship now carrot loses power in bad weather off norway's coast the viking guy has anchored two kilometers offshore those are airlifting have thirteen hundred people to safety. and the.