Kristin Scott Thomas reads Kafka

​A highlight of 2024 for the Kafka’s Transformative Communities team was a public reading of selected Kafka stories by Dame Kristin Scott Thomas in Oxford.

On 12 November, the award-winning actress gave a live performance to a sell-out crowd in the Holywell Music Room, Wadham College. In the centenary year of his death, it was a fitting way to celebrate Kafka’s legacy; as Professor Carolin Duttlinger pointed out in her introduction, “via live recitation, Kafka’s works probably reached more listeners than readers in Kafka’s lifetime.”

The programme, entitled ‘Of Children, Animals and Hunger Artists’, evolved out of ‘Franz Kafka: Deep Cuts’, which took place at Bold Tendencies, Peckham on the evening of the author’s birthdate, Wednesday 3 July 2024.

Audience feedback from the November event was resoundingly positive:

‘Amazing. Kafka should be read aloud more.’

‘My first time hearing Kafka in English (not German) – really fascinating experience and brilliant performance by Kristin Scott Thomas.’

‘Time flew! She was a great reader. Brought it to life.’

It was an honour to collaborate with Dame Kristin Scott Thomas on this event and we are grateful to Bold Tendencies and Wadham College for helping us to make it possible.

Photography: William Parry, Pressure Cooker Arts