Free and open to the public
Presented by Wunderbar Together in cooperation with the Houston Zoo and Inprint
Author Carl-Christian Elze will read excerpts from his book Zoo Stories: Oda and My Stuffed Father and participate in a moderated discussion with the translator Bradley Schmidt.
About Zoo Stories: Oda and My Stuffed Father: For nearly 35 years, beginning in 1957—the author’s father, Professor Karl Elze, was the head veterinarian for the Leipzig Zoo. In this book, the author poetically reminisces on his life in the zoo among the animals.
About the author: Carl-Christian Elze was born in 1974 in Berlin and currently lives in Leipzig. He studied biology and German studies at the University of Leipzig, and later creative writing at the Deutsches Literaturinstitut Leipzig. He writes poems, short stories, and plays and currently runs a series of readings in Leipzig called niemerlang. In addition to a chapbook and five full-length books, his work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including: Akzente, BELLA triste, EDIT, Lyrik von Jetzt 2 und Jahrbuch der Lyrik. Translations of his work into English can be found at Exchanges, The Los Angeles Review, Lunch Ticket, Tupelo Quarterly, and Poetry International. Elze is a member of the PEN Centre Germany.