Erste Worte

Date: Friday, December 01, 2023
Admission: 19:00
Start: 19:30
Location: iJuLa room, Herthastraße 50, Cologne Zollstock

Program

We cordially invite you to a cozy event shortly before the first Advent on December 1st in the iJuLa room in Cologne - Zollstock. The young authors Nora Haddada and Dr. Nasanin Kamani will read from their debut novels. Nora Haddada will read passages from"Nothing in the Plants", followed by Dr. Nasanin Kamani with"Date Education". Gain insights into the authors' first works and learn more about their backgrounds and inspirations.

Learn more about how the literary business works in a joint discussion. Nora Haddada and Dr. Nasanin Kamani will give insights into their own experiences and challenges. How can you take the first steps towards your first book? How does contact with a publisher work, what does a first contract look like? Do you feel pressure and what can be a second mainstay alongside writing? The evening also offers you the opportunity to ask your own questions. Whether you want to find out more about the writing process, the inspiration of authors or the dynamics of the literary market - the stage is yours too! After the reading and discussion, we invite you to end the evening in a relaxed atmosphere with signature drinks together with the authors.

About the authors & books

Nora Haddada
Nora Haddada, born in 1998 in Neunkirchen (Saar), studied creative writing and literature in Hildesheim, Paris and most recently in Berlin. She has worked as a screenwriter, representative at the German Embassy in Paris and agent at the Petra Eggers agency. Published in magazines and anthologies, invited to conferences and festivals. In August 2023 she made her debut with Ecco Verlag with the novel "Nichts in den Pflanzen". She lives in Berlin.

"Nothing in the plants"
The young screenwriter Leila has signed her first contract with a major production company. She compensates for her moderately successful writing routine with nights in corner pubs and at dinner parties, which secretly bore her. They keep each other alive with success stories - but how do you really survive between envy and affairs in the fierce competition between creative artists? Wit, desperate acts, glamor, overconfidence and the search for meaning in a seemingly superficial world, the depths of which open up bit by bit as you read.

Dr. Nasanin Kamani
Dr. Nasanin Kamani, born in Cologne in 1989, is an author and doctor living in Cologne. She studied medicine at the University of Cologne and has been working as a doctor in the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy since graduating.
During her time at school and university, she wrote reports and columns for the daily newspaper "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger", and occasionally also for WDR 4. Kamani published short stories in anthologies and was twice awarded the Walter Kempowski Literature Prize for short stories (2015, 2021).
In 2022, her book "Date Education" was published by EMF Verlag.

"Date Education"
In "Date Education", the author tells five dating stories from a first-person perspective. They are about getting to know each other, the right or wrong chemistry, love and fear of commitment, projections and idealizations, drama and disillusionment. The stories are written in prose, but are repeatedly interrupted by psychological analysis boxes that comment on and evaluate the plot from a professional point of view - it's almost like going through the book with the author wearing analytical X-ray glasses.

ROOTS & ROUTES Cologne e. V. (RRCGN) is a specialist cultural education organization in Cologne that is committed to international youth work, the promotion of cultural diversity and different art forms. RRCGN supports young people and young adults in their creative and professional development. In local and international networking. RRCGN is committed to an open, inclusive society, the elimination of discrimination and access for all people to cultural and artistic life.

iJuLa (intersectional JugendLabore im Veedel) is an RRCGN project and is funded as part of the federal program "Demokratie leben!" of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth; additional funding comes from the Children and Youth Promotion Plan of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the DOHLE Foundation and the European Solidarity Corps.