Poetry Night brings a rich tapestry of voices to the stage – featuring powerful poetic voices from Belarus, Palestine, Greenland, and Germany. Poets read in their native languages; alternating with German-speaking authors who perform their – sometimes festival-exclusive – translations.
In Julia Cimafiejeva’s poems, traces of ecological and political violence appear – in nature, the body, and language itself. Her verses traverse centuries like a »road that grows inward« and »throws mountains beneath itself.« Violence is also pervasive in the poetry of Asmaa Azaizeh. Family members drift helplessly like beetles in water, teeth threaten to fall out – and in dreams, the lyrical self even loses its dreams, which turn into fossils in the riverbed. Jessie Kleemann weaves figures and symbols of Greenlandic culture with objects and languages from other countries. Kalaallisut/Greenlandic, Danish, and English merge into new sound and meaning spaces where myth and present-day intertwine. Her performance will be musically accompanied
by Søren Gemmer. Sirka Elspaß looks at the fractures of everyday life with clear, precise language. Her poems revolve around the body, exhaustion, uncertainty, birds in the sky, and fleeting moments of comfort: »ich suche / sie immer die engel / den trost per boten«. Vulnerable, sharply observed, and at times quietly angry, Elspaß explores the fragility of being in the world. Joël Hubaut will also perform on this evening. He is the recipient of the Prix d’Honneur of the Prix Littéraire Bernard Heidsieck, which will be awarded for the first time at the ilb. The French artist and pioneer of sound poetry has been combining language, sound, image, and performance since the 1970s. His appearances are radical, poetic interventions, and a passionate plea for literature beyond the book.
With Asmaa Azaizeh, Julia Cimafiejeva, Sirka Elspaß, Joël Hubaut, Jessie Kleemann
Moderated by Karolina Golimowska
Read by Sandra Hetzl, Uljana Wolf
The event will be held in English with readings in various languages. With literary translations created exclusively for the festival: Sandra Hetzl translated poems by Asmaa Azaizeh from Arabic into German; Moritz Schramm translated poems by Jessie Kleemann from Danish into German.