Languages
All topics-
Poems by young refugees
Holding back the tears
A writing project has turned young refugees from Afghanistan into poets. The creative talents read their work at the International Literature Festival in Berlin, where many listeners found themselves fighting back the tears. By Sabine Peschel
-
Interview with the Egyptian author Youssef Rakha
"Taken together, these things would make up home..."
The Egyptian poet, essayist, novelist and journalist Youssef Rakha moves between two worlds. He aims to show his Western readers an eclectic Cairo beyond common cliches. Interview by Susanne Schanda
-
55 years of German-Turkish labour recruitment
Integration is a crossroads
In October it will be fifty-five years since Germany and Turkey signed the labour recruitment agreement. And yet many people of Turkish origin still feel like outsiders in Germany. What does that tell us about the course of integration and what role does past experience play in the current situation? By Melanie Christina Mohr
-
Mother-tongue instruction in multi-ethnic Iran
Linguistic diversity as opportunity
Iran is a state of many ethnicities where over a dozen languages are spoken, including, among others, Persian, Baluchi, Luri, Arabic, and Turkish. Unfortunately, the country’s education policy does not take account of this linguistic diversity. By Manutschehr Amirpur
-
Interview with the Iranian author Fariba Vafi
"Cliches have no place in writing″
Fariba Vafi is one of Iran′s most popular contemporary women writers. She has already published many short stories and novels to critical acclaim. In interview with Maryam Aras she looks back over her own life and the situation of women in Iran following the Islamic Revolution
-
Goethe′s fascination with the "Thousand and One Nights"
Mephistopheles spoke; Scheherazade beguiled
To date, critical studies of Faust have given little consideration to its Oriental elements, in particular the fables from the "Thousand and One Nights". Goethe′s fascination with the famous storyteller Scheherazade, and his adoption of her narrative techniques and themes, has been underestimated. By Melanie Christina Mohr
-
The #siirsokakta movement in Turkey
The poem is on the street
In the wake of the Gezi protests – and through interaction with social media – a movement arose in Turkey that inspired people to write, spray and scrawl snippets of poetry on all kinds of surfaces in public spaces. It became a vibrant part of literary life in Turkey. By Achim Wagner
-
Arabic bookshop in Istanbul
"We want to be a cultural centre"
The first Arabic bookshop in Istanbul opened its doors in June. It is run by Syrian refugees, together with Turkish publishers. They want the shop to become a meeting place for Arabs and Turks. It already offers much more than just Arabic literature. Ekrem Guzeldere took a look around "Pages"
-
Kurdish in exile
The right to a mother tongue
An estimated 800,000 Kurds from various countries live in Germany. Keeping up their mother tongue has proved difficult. Ceyda Nurtsch on the efforts to maintain Kurdish language and literature in the German diaspora, and pass them on to future generations
-
Obituary: the Algerian writer Malek Alloula
A prophet unaccepted in his own country
The renowned Algerian essayist, literary scholar and poet Malek Alloula died in February at the age of 78. His ex-wife, the writer Assia Djebar, had died in exile in Paris only a few weeks previously. By Suleman Taufiq
-
Interview with literary translator Hartmut Faehndrich
"What I don't see is an on-going interest in Arabic literature"
Hartmut Faehndrich is one of the most renowned translators of Arabic literature in the German-speaking world. He has translated nearly 60 novels into German. In this interview with Ruth Renée Reif, he explains why Arabic literature is undervalued in the German-speaking world
-
Recreating Palestine in Literature
A Nation Crafted From Words
"We have a country made of words", reads a famous poem by the Palestinian writer Mahmud Darwish. In his essay, the well-known Jordanian journalist and literary scholar Fakhri Saleh explores the effect that the loss of homeland has had on Palestinian literature and self-perception