Who is afraid of Enid Blyton?

Enid Blyton is one of the most widely read authors in the world and has produced around 700 books. To this day, her books for children and young adults continue to enjoy unbroken popularity. Her stories may still be exciting, but today's readers are struck by the schematic characters. The author often paints them according to long-established prejudices and rigid norms. Children from low-income households are stupid and dirty, girls are weaker than boys, and the criminals are recognizable at first glance because they are not white. Still, even with that look, Blyton's world of easy classifications and easy-to-solve cases draws us in in a peculiar way.

Burg Hülshoff - Center for Literature (CfL) invites six contemporary authors to present their favorite Blyton book in short texts and to reflect on what is so fascinating about this writing to this day - and what is so off-putting.

Visitors will not hear these texts just anywhere. In the teahouse at Burg Hülshoff, they are served alongside British cucumber sandwiches, scones and Earl Grey. In radio play form.

With texts by
Randy Boyagoda, Mithu Sanyal, Nicole Seifert, Stefanie de Velasco, Gabrielle Wang, Nadia Wassef

Production and Sounddesign:
Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling

Video:
Philipp Wachowitz