Disrupting Literature

Het Goethe-Institut is de wereldwijd actieve culturele instelling van de Duitse Bondsrepubliek. Wij bevorderen de kennis van de Duitse taal in het buitenland en de internationale culturele samenwerking.

Goethe-Institut Niederlande

Anti-Racist Strategies for Dutch and German Publishing.

Goethe-Institut Amsterdam

The Dutch- and German-language literary scenes have much to celebrate together in 2024, with Netherlands and Flanders joining the Leipzig book fair as guest of honour. Yet the cultural sphere must also grapple with the same challenges as Dutch and German society at large. This event faces the exclusionary structures that are reflected in the publishing industry head-on – and aims to showcase and share strategies to disrupt them. How do writers and publishing professionals from marginalised communities make their voices heard? What anti-racist initiatives in the industry have proven fruitful in the long run? What can we learn from each other across the two contexts? This panel discussion brings together Ebissé Wakjira and Elisa Diallo to address such questions on the basis of their remarkable range of expertise and experience behind and in front of the scenes of Dutch and German literature. Their respective work exemplifies artistic approaches to writing a pluralistic society, from the ground-breaking anthologies <a href="https://www.atlascontact.nl/boek/zwart/" title="https://www.atlascontact.nl/boek/zwart/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Zwart: Afro-Europese Literatur uit de Lage Landen</a> (2018) and <a href="https://uitgeverijpluim.nl/de-goede-immigrant" title="https://uitgeverijpluim.nl/de-goede-immigrant" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">De Goede Immigrant</a> (2020), which Wakjira has co-edited, to Diallo’s book-length essay <a href="https://editions.flammarion.com/index.php/fille-de-france/9782081481428" title="https://editions.flammarion.com/index.php/fille-de-france/9782081481428" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Fille de France</a> (2019). At the same time, both offer insights into the workings of publishing houses, prize juries, and projects ran in communities of like-minded people. The conversation will be moderated by Leila Essa, who has contributed to the anthology <a href="https://www.rowohlt.de/buch/anders-bleiben-9783499010804" title="https://www.rowohlt.de/buch/anders-bleiben-9783499010804" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">anders bleiben</a> (2023) alongside Diallo and currently examines the topics at hand for the Dutch Research Council. Elisa Diallo is a literary scholar and author based in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition to her role as the Foreign Rights director in publishing, she has been on judging panels for various literary prizes, including the Caine Prize for African Writing and the recently established Resonanzen Literary Festival for Black German Writings. Elisa is the author of two books: <a href="https://www.cairn.info/tierno-monenembo--9782811106690.htm" title="https://www.cairn.info/tierno-monenembo--9782811106690.htm" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Tierno Monenembo, une écriture migrante</a> (Karthala, 2012) and <a href="https://editions.flammarion.com/index.php/fille-de-france/9782081481428" title="https://editions.flammarion.com/index.php/fille-de-france/9782081481428" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Fille de France</a> (Flammarion, 2019; Berenberg, 2021).Ebissé Wakjira is co-founder of <a href="https://www.dipsaus.org/" title="https://www.dipsaus.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Dipsaus Podcast </a>and publisher of Dipsaus books in collaboration with Uitgeverij Pluim. She is also the publications coordinator at <a href="https://framerframed.nl/" title="https://framerframed.nl/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Framer Framed</a>. And member of the editorial board of <a href="https://www.nederlandseboekengids.com/" title="https://www.nederlandseboekengids.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">De Nederlandse Boekengids</a>. She formerly worked at the Dutch Council for Culture, and was acquisitions editor of non-fiction at Amsterdam University Press. Ebissé is the co-editor of three anthologies: <a href="https://www.atlascontact.nl/boek/zwart/" title="https://www.atlascontact.nl/boek/zwart/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Zwart: Afro-Europese Literatur uit de Lage Landen</a> (2018), <a href="https://uitgeverijpluim.nl/de-goede-immigrant" title="https://uitgeverijpluim.nl/de-goede-immigrant" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">De Goede Immigrant</a> (2020) and <a href="https://afromagazine.nl/nieuws/afrolit-moderne-literatuur-uit-de-afrikaanse-diaspora" title="https://afromagazine.nl/nieuws/afrolit-moderne-literatuur-uit-de-afrikaanse-diaspora" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">AfroLit: Moderne literatuur uit de Afrikaanse diaspora</a> (2020).Leila Essa is Assistant Professor in Comparative Literature at Utrecht University, where she leads a <a href="https://intervention.sites.uu.nl/" title="https://intervention.sites.uu.nl/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Dutch Research Council</a> project on authorial strategies against exclusionary discourses in Germany and Britain. Literature and its politics are also at the heart of her public writing and speaking. She is a judge for the Kurt-Tucholsky-Prize for politically engaged German-language writing and one of the authors of the anthology <a href="https://www.rowohlt.de/buch/anders-bleiben-9783499010804" title="https://www.rowohlt.de/buch/anders-bleiben-9783499010804" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">anders bleiben</a> (staying different, edited by Selma Wels, 2023). Voor information on this event, please visit the following<a href="https://www.goethe.de/ins/nl/de/ver.cfm?event_id=25312758" title="https://www.goethe.de/ins/nl/de/ver.cfm?event_id=25312758" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"> link</a>.

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Disrupting Literature

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