Press Release | Berlin, 02/21/2024

The Blue Sofa: High-Profile Guests and a Variety of Events in March 2024

• Ingrid Noll, Nora Krug, Henri Faber, Peter Wohlleben, and others: Renowned authors present their latest books
• Berlin, Leipzig, Gütersloh: The Blue Sofa presents topics from literature, culture and society at established and new locations

Berlin, February 21, 2024 – For more than 20 years now, Bertelsmann’s famous Blue Sofa (Das Blaue Sofa) has offered established as well as up-and-coming authors a stage on which to share their latest books with a wide audience. In March 2024, the popular author forum will present a whole series of events in Berlin, Leipzig, and Gütersloh. Audiences can look forward to a varied selection of guests and topics – from exciting crime thrillers and gripping novels to inspiring works of nonfiction.

Overview of Events

The Blue Sofa with Peter Wohlleben
Saturday, March 2, 2024, 7:30 p.m. Theater Gütersloh,
Hans-Werner-Henze-Platz 1, 33330 Gütersloh

Author and forest ranger Peter Wohlleben presents his new book “Unser wildes Erbe” (“Our Wild Legacy,” Ludwig) on the Blue Sofa at Theater Gütersloh. In it, he explores the question of how it can be that humans, as the supposedly most highly evolved beings on this planet, are destroying their own habitat. In conversation with presenter Tarkan Bagci, Peter Wohlleben provides fascinating insights into the true nature of humankind.

Further information can be found here  .

Welcome Netherlands & Flanders! – The Blue Sofa welcomes the guests of honor of the Leipzig Book Fair 2024
Thursday, March 7, 2024, 7:00 p.m.
Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1, 10117 Berlin

This marks the first time that Bertelsmann Unter den Linden is hosting a welcome party for the Leipzig Book Fair’s guest countries and regions – this year: the Netherlands and Flanders – in Berlin. The curators of the welcome, Bettina Baltschev and Margot Dijkgraaf, will give an insight into the program to accompany this year’s theme, “Anything but flat.” Afterwards, authors Anna Enquist (“Die Seilspringerin,” Luchterhand), Jaap Robben (“Kontur eines Lebens,” DuMont) and Lize Spit (“Der ehrliche Finder,” S. Fischer) will talk about their books with moderators Shelly Kupferberg and Katharina Borchardt.

Further information can be found here  .

Leipzig Book Fair 2024 – CrimeClub at the District Court
Thursday and Friday, March 21 and 22, 2024, 7:00 p.m.
Leipzig District Court, Harkortstraße 9, 04107 Leipzig

As part of the Leipzig liest reading festival and in cooperation with the Kunst & Justiz association, The Blue Sofa is once again organizing the CrimeClub at Leipzig’s District Court in 2024. Four authors will give insights into their writing and demonstrate the diversity of the crime-writing genre. Thursday’s guests are Eric Berg (“Roter Sand,” Limes), Anja Jonuleit (“Kaiserwald,” Penguin), Karina Urbach (“Das Haus am Gordon Place,” Limes), Mathijs Deen (“Der Retter,” mare). Ingrid Noll (“Gruß aus der Küche,” Diogenes), Henri Faber („Gestehe“, dtv), Stephan Schmidt (“Die Spiele,” DuMont), and Susanne Tägder (“Das Schweigen des Wassers,” Tropen) will follow on Friday. Anouk Schollähn will moderate each event.

Further information can be found here  .

Leipzig Book Fair 2024 – The Blue Sofa in the Kaiserbad Auditorium
Saturday, March 23, 2024, 7:30 p.m. Kaiserbad,
Karl-Heine-Straße 93, 04229 Leipzig

During the Leipzig Book Fair 2024, the Blue Sofa will take place in the ballroom of Leipzig’s Kaiserbad for the first time ever. The March 23 event will feature authors Nora Krug (“Im Krieg,” Penguin), Mario Giordano (“Die Frauen der Familie Carbonaro,” Goldmann), Elias Hirschl (“Content,” Zsolnay), and Alina Herbing (“Tiere, vor denen man Angst haben muss,” Arche) presenting their latest books. The event will be moderated by Thomas Böhm and Miriam Zeh and is part of the Leipzig liest reading festival.

Further information can be found here  .

About The Blue Sofa
The Blue Sofa is one of the longest-running and most successful literary formats in the German-speaking world. Since its debut in 2000, more than 3,100 authors have taken a seat on the famous piece of furniture to present their new books at and beyond the big book fairs. In the past, the format was jointly organized by Bertelsmann, ZDF, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and 3sat; since 2023, Bertelsmann has continued to manage Das Blaue Sofa with a new concept under its sole responsibility. The Blue Sofa’s most prominent guests to date have included Nobel laureates Svetlana Alexievich, Mikhail Gorbachev, Günter Grass, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Herta Müller, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Orhan Pamuk, Joseph Stiglitz, Olga Tokarczuk, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Mo Yan.

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company with 85.000 employees, that operates in about 50 countries around the world. It includes the entertainment group RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato Group, Bertelsmann Marketing Services, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company generated revenues of €20.2 billion in the 2022 financial year. Bertelsmann stands for creativity and entrepreneurship. This combination promotes first-class media content and innovative service solutions that inspire customers around the world. Bertelsmann aspires to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.