Ilma Rakusa: Wo bleibt das Licht

In her diary-style prose, written between 2022 and 2024, Ilma Rakusa blends the political and the personal, observations on the present, and reflections on literature, nature, and everyday life. She looks with dismay at the world’s hotspots, particularly Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine; she denounces injustice and despotism with powerful words and appeals to humanity and reason. And she celebrates friendship by remembering colleagues—both living and deceased—such as Serhij Zhadan, Elke Erb, and Dzevad Karahasan.
She looks upon the world’s hotspots with horror and dismay, wrestling with her feelings, doubting, and despairing. With a clear vision and sharp judgment, she forcefully denounces injustice and despotism, appeals to humanity and reason, and reports with deep empathy on the daily lives of people in need.
Ilma Rakusa writes about the present with equal parts lucidity and poetry. Yet she also wanders through time and space in her thoughts—side by side with longtime companions—with gentleness, melancholy, and warmth, recalling shared conversations and memorizing texts. Ilma Rakusa, born in 1946 to a Hungarian mother and a Slovenian father, studied Slavic and Romance languages in Zurich, Paris, and St. Petersburg. She lives in Zurich and Berlin, working as a writer, translator, journalist (NZZ, Die Zeit), and university lecturer. Recipient of the Berlin Literature Prize (among many other awards).

Ilma Rakusa (prose and poetry)
Martin Jankowski (Moderator)

Johann-Heinrich-Merck Prize 2025: “In her laudatory speech, Katharina Raabe emphasized the prize winner’s keen perception, her openness toward others, and her engagement with world events; qualities that are brought about first and foremost by ‘relentless reading and writing.’”

“Rakusa does not belong to any particular school, yet her creative power and her ‘soulful eye,’ her subtle empathy, could set a precedent. Likewise, her free-spirited way of crossing boundaries. Rakusa moves between languages, genres, and cultures.” (Marie Luise Knott, Tagtigall)

The event will be held in German.