the first journey (or: the first time)
it was in 2005 that i first visited Eastern Germany - i was in Berlin before and after the wall opened, but not to any "real" East German places. the spark for the journey was delivered by: books. a friend came up with the idea to visit the book fair in Leipzig. so the trip fell into place: 3 days in Leipzig. 3 days of books, art, Leipzig city and reflections on life, history, words, and that strange, huge ride that is human civilization.
the second journey
this year i returned to Leipzig, to visit the book fair again - and while preparing for it, i came to think about my first visit, and put the essay i wrote back then up in my blog again - the title of it: "East West Real Life".
a book
in the last months, i found myself returning to Leipzig in thoughts, and at some point, i started to look for the other notes i wrote back then during that first journey, to collect them in a file. and this file now turned into a chapbook - the story of a journey, and at the same time, a reflection about the West, the East, the past, the now - real life, and the questions it poses.
it's almost complete now, just some formatting matters to be solved. the size of the book is about 50 pages - a good size for an e-book. yesterday i did a first test upload at smashwords, the e-book-page where authors can e-publish their books. the good thing about smashwords is that it includes a multi-generator for many e-format. and that it offers ISBN-numbers. that's how i arrived at this funky spot that showed the book as thumbnail, and looked all serious, unaware of the double meaning of the request:
website / link
some more notes on the book are up on a website - photos and map included already. the book itself hopefully will follow soon. here's the website link:
Leipzig, or: East West Real Life
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