Poetikvorlesung von Lina Atfah

This time, we welcome the poet Lina Atfah. Born in 1989 in Salamiyah, Syria, she now lives as a writer in the Ruhr region and writes in Arabic and German. Her bilingual poetry collection*Das Buch von der fehlenden Ankunft* (The Bookofthe Missing Arrival)exploresthe themes of home, flight, and the causes of flight through imagery that is as precise as it is sensual. Lina Atfah studied Arabic literature and has been honored with awards including the LiBeratur Prize, the Ruhr Literature Prize, and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia’s Young Writers’ Prize.

The Hildesheim Poetry Lecture, a collaboration between the Institute of Literature at the University of Hildesheim and the Literaturhaus St. Jakobi, has long been a fixture in the city’s cultural life. Since 2018, it has brought outstanding voices in contemporary literature to Hildesheim every semester. Past guests have included Esther Kinsky, Doris Dörrie, Martina Hefter, Hannes Bajohr, Mithu Sanyal, Clemens J. Setz, and, most recently, Kateryna Mishchenko.

Starting this winter semester, the poetry lecture series willtake placein collaboration withWeiter.Schreiben.jetzt—a Berlin-based initiative that offers a platform to authors from war-torn and crisis-stricken regions and strengthens their literary voice in the German-speaking world.