Virtual Picnic & Workshop “Celebrating Women in Kotzebue’s Life and Writing”
Date: 7 & 8 July 2023
Place: University of Tübingen, Germany and Online via Zoom
(Zur deutschen Fassung und dem Porgramm geht es hier)
Picking up on the success of the Virtual Kotzebue Picnic performed on the occasion of August von Kotzebue’s 260th Birthday in 2021, a new hybrid event will take place on 7 and 8 July 2023.
The Kotzebue Picnic 2023 aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines, writers, artists, and curators in order to catch up with the flourishing global Kotzebue community by celebrating women connected to the life and writing of this multifaceted figure of World Literature.
The “Celebration Women” Picnic highlights various significant themes, shedding light on the biographies of lesser known women who were born or married into the Kotzebue family, as well as those who are related to them. Additionally, the event will feature discussions on notable female characters in Kotzebue’s literature and drama, such as Eulalia (Mrs. Haller), Gurli, Cora, Afanasia, and Ada, as well as celebrated female performers. The event will also honour female writers, journalists, and intermediaries who adapted Kotzebue’s texts for the international literary market, as well as female correspondents of August von Kotzebue.
The Kotzebue Picnic 2023 will be hosted by the University of Tübingen and is organised by Anna Ananieva in collaboration with Astrid Köhler (Queen Mary University of London).
The two-day event will combine in-person and online elements, engaging both on-site and virtual attendees at the same time.
First Day: Kotzebue Picnic – Bring your own short contributions or simply join in!
The Kotzebue Picnic starts on Friday 7 July 2023 at 16h CET (Berlin & Paris, 15h in London) and ends in the evening.
Take part in the Kotzebue Picnic by providing your share of the conversation, the entertainment, and the intellectual refreshment, virtually reinvigorating this fashionable form of sociability much loved in the Kotzebue era. The variety of Picnic contributions can include readings, performances, or talks – each in their own way celebrating women in Kotzebue’s life, family and writing. It is your choice.
We would very much welcome any kind of short artistic or academic contributions based on or related to texts, plays, or songs written by Kotzebue. Contributions pertaining to any afterlife of his works, such as translations into various languages or media would also be great.
Bearing in mind the spirit of sociability, why not present a short talk shedding new light on some aspects of Kotzebue’s life or writings engaging with women?
With your help we hope to create a suitable and entertaining mix in the spirit of the first Kotzebue Picnic. We will collect und refresh the list of themes and topics submitted to provide an up-to-date overview of the Picnic programme on the event’s homepage.
Bring your own delicacies to celebrate woman in Kotzebue’s life and writing. You are welcome to share your picnic dishes with everyone in two modes: live and pre-recorded.
Readings, performances, and talks of up to 5 minutes would likely be best presented (and consumed) live during the virtual event.
Written contributions of up to 600 words will be published online as guest contributions on the Hypotheses-Blog “Kotzebue International”.
We would also be delighted if you had pre-recorded contributions of up to 15 minutes. The video ‘picnic pieces’ will be presented online on YouTube, the audio podcasts on SoundCloud. If you are considering any of these formats, we invite you to take a look at the variety of contributions produced for the Kotzebue Picnic in 2021 (yet staying absolutely fresh ) here and here.
Considering the nature of Kotzebue’s work & the academic research done on him, German and English will be probably the most agreeable languages for the Picnic. Nevertheless, the event is open to contributions in any other languages. Just get in touch with the Picnic’s hosts.
Let us know what kind of contribution you plan to share by writing an email to picnic@kotzebue-international.org (in German, English, or Russian; if at all possible by 25th June 2023).
Second Day: Kotzebue Workshop – Listen in, comment or contribute to the discussions!
The festive picnic gathering of the first day will be followed by a workshop on Saturday 8 July 2023 at 10h – 16h CET (9am – 3pm in London). Offering a more conventional mix of research papers and discussions, the workshop will comprise talks of up to 30-minutes, presented by invited guests and followed by Q&A.

Virtual Picnic & Workshop: Confirmed Attendees
Alexander Ananyev (Tübingen),
Zenaida des Aubris (Berlin),
Johannes Birgfeld (Saarbrücken),
Julia Bohnengel (Heidelberg),
Robert Gillett (London),
Max Graff (Heidelberg),
Rolf Haaser (Tübingen),
Kairit Kaur (Tallinn),
Sigrid G. Köhler (Tübingen),
Julia Rebholz (Tübingen),
Martin Reulecke (Gießen),
Franziska Schedewie (Jena),
George S. Williamson (Florida),
Alexa von Winning (Tübingen)
Overview & Dates:
“Celebrating Women in Kotzebue’s life and writing”
The Virtual Picnic & Workshop is free and open to everyone. Prior registration is necessary. To book a place via Eventbrite, click here. When you register, you will be sent a link and details of how to join the online forum in good time. Whether you wish to contribute or simply listen in, we invite you to join us.
25 June 2023, 24h CET: Deadline for announcing virtual Picnic Contributions to the hosts: picnic@kotzebue-international.org
7 July 2023, 12h CET: Registration Deadline via Eventbrite.
7 July 2023, 16h CET (Berlin & Paris; 17h in Tallinn, St. Petersburg & Moscow; 3pm in London; 10am in New York & Washington DC; 7am in Los Angeles & Vancouver; 23h in Sendai): Kotzebue Picnic
8 July 2023, 10h CET (Berlin & Paris, 11h Tallinn, 9am in London, 4am in New York & Washington DC, 1am in Los Angeles & Vancouver, 17h in Sendai): Kotzebue Workshop
Contact:
Anna Ananieva, Institute for Eastern European History and Area Studies, Eberhard Karls University, Tubingen
Astrid Köhler, SLLF – School of Languages, Linguistics and Film, Modern Languages and Cultures, Queen Mary University of London
Email: picnic@kotzebue-international.org
Website: https://kotzebue.hypotheses.org/3216

The event is part of the research project “Between Estonia and the World. Mobile lifestyles and global relationships of the Krusenstern-Kotzebue family network from 1790 to 1860” which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
OpenEdition schlägt Ihnen vor, diesen Beitrag wie folgt zu zitieren:
Anna Ananieva (9. Juni 2023). Virtual Picnic & Workshop “Celebrating Women in Kotzebue’s Life and Writing” . Kotzebue International. Abgerufen am 11. Februar 2025 von https://doi.org/10.58079/qn3f