»After Nature«
University of Cologne, Aula I+II
Nature writing, ecopoetry: these are terms for genres from Western, or, more specifically, Anglo-American literary theory. They’re search words for a poetry of the Anthropocene that holds a mirror up to human intervention in nature and participates in debates about climate change or species extinction. As a festival for world literature, Poetica 9 will be dedicated to the relationship between nature, poetry, and history, and will thereby expand the search field, particularly by showing the global diversity in contemporary nature poetry and the widely differing cultural traditions and literary forms that poets from Colombia, England, Greece, Iran, Japan, North Macedonia, Switzerland, USA, or Germany refer to in their poetry.
For the opening of Poetica 9, ten authors from Europe, Asia, North, Central, and South America, will present their texts in short readings, providing information about their poetic stance in a discussion with curator Daniela Danz. It will commence with a welcome address by Prof. Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee, the University of Cologne’s rector.
With Ali Abdollahi (Iran), Takako Arai (Japan), Camille T. Dungy (USA), Kendel Hippolyte (St. Lucia), Esther Kinsky (Germany), Nikola Madžirov (North Macedonia), María Paz Guerrero (Colombia), Rou Reynolds (Enter Shikari, UK), Liana Sakelliou (Greece), Raphael Urweider (Switzerland) and Poetica 9 curator Daniela Danz.
With the actors and musicians Philipp Plessmann, Yuri Englert and Yvon Jansen.
The evening will be recorded by Deutschlandfunk Kultur as a media partner and broadcast on January 28, 2024 at 10 p.m.
The event will be held both in German and in English.
Admission is free.
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