Literary Festival
Ceylon Literary & Art Festival

with the participation of German author Max Czollek

8th - 12th of February 2024

The Ceylon Literary & Arts Festival returns for its second edition from January 17-19, 2025, as a premier platform celebrating Sri Lanka’s art, culture, and creativity. The Goethe-Institut Sri Lanka supports the travel and participation ofGerman writer, lyric-poet, stage performer and curator Max Czollek at the festival.

Focused on nurturing emerging talent, the festival features literature, art, music, and film, creating a dynamic cultural experience. Highlights include the Future Writers program, which empowers young Sri Lankan writers, and curated sessions with both local and international creatives.

Max Czollek is a writer, lyric-poet, stage performer, curator, and political scientist. A member of the G-13 authors’ collective, he is particularly well known for his theatrical and essayistic work surrounding memory culture, integration, and Jewish identity in post-war Germany. He was awarded a doctorate at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at Technische Universität Berlin (2016). In 2024, he wasDAAD Distinguished Chairin Contemporary Poetics at New York University. Max’s latest book isDe-Integrate! A Jewish Survival Guide for the 21st Century.


Max Czollek at the Ceylon Literary and Arts Festival 

Sunday, 19 January 2025, 11:20 am - 12:00 pm

Diversity Reckoning | Max Czollek in conversation with Savithri Rodrigo 
Max Czollek presents his vision for “radical diversity” as an alternative to the traditional politics of tolerance and assimilation. Drawing on his critiques of post-WWII German cultural policies, Czollek argues for a future where diversity is embraced not as an exception but as a fundamental principle, examining how radical diversity reshapes the way we view citizenship, culture, and politics, pushing for a more inclusive and multifaceted societal structure that transcends binary notions of identity. Czollek also brings a critical lens to the ongoing immigration crisis in Germany as an opportunity to rethink national identity and the social integration of displaced communities, advocating for peace through mutual recognition.