What do the work, experiences and realities of authors who have had to leave their home countries due to war or political repression and now live in Berlin or Germany look like? In regular evening events in the Literatures in Exile series, two authors from different countries present their texts and discuss their experiences of exile as well as opportunities and challenges in the (German) literary scene.
On the 10th of October 2024, Egyptian author and literary editor Ahmed Awny and Abdul Wahid Rafee, an author and human rights activist from Afghanistan, will meet. The evening will be moderated by literary scholar and critic Dr. Maha El Hissy.
The focus will be on the mediation and examination of the writers' artistic positions and works. In addition, structural questions will also be discussed, such as the connection to literary and artistic scenes, language and translation challenges or the examination of identity and artistic creation in a new environment.
Guests
Ahmed Awny
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Andreas Krufzcik
Born in Cairo in 1988, Ahmed Awny is an Egyptian author and literary editor. His main interests are social movements, political propaganda and the portrayal of oriental masculinity. In 2010 he published the short story collection "Chronic Fear" (Sharkyyat publishing house) and in 2019 his first novel, "Some achieve greatness, Jawa'iz lel abtal" (Almharouseh publishing house), which won the Sawiris Prize for best novel of the year. He was writer in residence at the Cité International des Arts in Paris and a participant in the "International Literature Dialogue", an initiative of the Austrian Federal Foreign Office. Today Ahmed Awny lives in Berlin and is working on his first non-fiction book “The brother of Egypt”, which combines biography and political analysis.
Abdul Wahid Rafee, born in 1971 in Qarabagh, Afghanistan, is an author and human rights activist. In 2002, he founded the magazine National Unity to give a forum to marginalised voices in his home country. A year later, he joined the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, where he documented human rights violations and campaigned in particular for the protection of children. Since 2006, he has published six books of short stories and a children's book, all of which touch on issues of social justice. Throughout his career, Rafee has been honored with several notable awards, including the first prize at the Tasnim Festival for his story "Father’s Wire Cage", and the Silk Road Festival Award. In 2022, he won first place at the Akram Osman Literary Festival in Sweden, and he later served as a jury member in 2023. Abdul Wahid Rafee lives in Berlin.
Maha El Hissy is a freelance literary scholar and critic. In 2012 she published her book ‘Getürkte Türken. Karnevaleske Stilmittel im Theater, Kabarett und Film deutsch-türkischer Künstlerinnen und Künstler’ (transcript). She has taught and researched modern German literature in Cairo, Munich, Berkeley, London and Berlin. As a critic, she writes for the Berliner Zeitung, taz and Deutschlandfunk Kultur. She will soon be publishing the anthology ‘Die ganze Geschichte fasse ich an der Hand. Literature and art on immigration to post-war Germany.’ On behalf of the Goethe-Institut Northwest Europe, she is curating the literature series ‘Vorzeichen. Who, what and how we read’.
This event takes place in cooperation with the Literature platform Weiter Schreiben.
The "Literatures in Exile" series is sponsored by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.
