SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER 2026 · BERLIN
KIỀU LESEN – READING KIỀU
A multilingual, multidisciplinary reading series around the Truyện Kiều.
4 Saturdays: 12.9 / 31.10 / 21.11 / 5.12
parallelgesellschaft × Galerie Nord
Turmstraße 75, 10551 Berlin-Moabit
A self-organized, volunteer-run reading series.
Free admission, donations welcome.
Registration appreciated ↗
Truyện Kiều – The Tale of Kiều – is one of the most celebrated works of Vietnamese literature. In the West, it remains barely known. What does it have to say to us now?
For 15 years, Thúy Kiều is married off, traded, betrayed. She takes revenge, loves against the rules of her time, despairs – and returns, changed. The text is still contested: claimed for the nation, reread by feminists, passed down in diaspora families often as no more than a single remembered line.
Kiều Lesen – Reading Kiều is a reading circle open to anyone curious about the poem – with or without prior knowledge of it. Sessions move between introduction, close reading, practice, and film, across German, Vietnamese, and English.
This small series is organized entirely on a volunteer basis by members of the Tracing Kiều team and its network. Visual concept and graphic design for Session #1: Lan Linh Lê. Illustration from Das Mädchen Kiều by Claudia Borchers. We warmly thank the collective parallelgesellschaft × Galerie Nord for hosting the series free of charge.
SESSION 1 · SAT 12.09.2026, 17:00–19:00
Hoa Trôi
Drifting Flower
The condition of drifting
The series opened with traditional Vietnamese music by the Lotus Ensemble and an introduction by Dr. Trương Hồng Quang to Truyện Kiều, the image of hoa trôi, and ngâm Kiều, the traditional way of reciting the poem.
In Hoa Trôi, a hybrid poetry performance conceived by Dạ Thảo Phương, the drifting flower became a way to ask what happens to us as we move between places, languages and stages of life. Passages from Nguyễn Du’s poem moved between Vietnamese, German, and English voices, live painting with chữ Nôm, and percussion.
With: Lotus Ensemble, Trương Hồng Quang, Dạ Thảo Phương, Phạm Quỳnh Nga, Amelie Mai Gottsmann, Alisa Anh Kotmair, and the audience.
SESSION 2 · SAT 31.10.2026, 17:00–19:00
Băng lối vườn khuya
Crossing the night garden
Freedom / Love / Constraint
What does freedom mean when our choices are constrained, and what role does love play?
The session centers on a sequence in which Thúy Kiều’s life changes course: first, she boldly crosses the garden at night to meet Kim Trọng; soon after, her family is falsely accused, her father is extorted, and she decides to give up her love and sell herself into marriage to secure his release. Music, contemporary poetry, conversation, and a shared reading with everyone present explore this sequence and the questions it raises.
With: Đặng Ngọc Long, Mai Firsching, Tobias Firsching, Lưu Bích Ngọc, Alisa Anh Kotmair, Amelie Mai Gottsmann, Dạ Thảo Phương, Hoàng Đăng Lãnh, Marcus Vu, JP Bouzac
SESSION 3 · SAT 21.11.2026, 17:00–19:00
Sự nào tại ta
What part is mine?
Justice / Complicity
Kiều is sold and exploited by people close to her, and later sits in judgment over them herself. The session opens with a contemporary short film that carries these questions into the present: What is just? What does it mean to profit from someone else’s exploitation? A shared reading and conversation follow.
SESSION 4 · SAT 5.12.2026, 17:00–19:00
Ba bảy đường
Many paths
Roles / Relations
Which of our roles do we choose, and which are chosen for us?
Thúy Kiều moves through many roles in the poem: daughter, lover, courtesan, concubine, nun, wife. They seem to contradict one another, yet they belong to one person. The final session takes these roles as a starting point for an open evening on the expectations of family, generation, and culture, and the different ways we live with them. With group reading, music, and an open floor: everyone is welcome to bring a text of their own that resonates with the Tale of Kiều.