Project description
The festival “Resonances”, which will take place during the Ruhrtriennale in 2024, highlights the specific aesthetics and diversity of Black literature. The aim is to counteract the underrepresentation of Black fiction in the German literary canon and raise the public’s interest in the aesthetics of Black literature which is often interpreted from a solely sociological point of view. Under the artistic direction of the British writer and Bachmann Prize winner Sharon Dodua Otoo, the festival organisers have invited an extremely heterogeneous group of Black writers to contribute literary works. Six submissions will be selected by an expert jury and publicly presented for the first time during the festival. Previously unpublished writers and frequently neglected genres of Black literature like written and spoken word poetry will also be considered for selection. The aim is to stage a literary festival which is international, sustainable, accessible and inclusive – a place of encounter, exchange and appreciation for Black European German-language literature.
The four-day festival will be accompanied by discussions and presentations featuring German and international authors and poets, such as Olivia Wenzel and Bernardine Evaristo. Building on a smaller pilot edition of the festival in 2022, this year’s festival aims to expand its target audience and reach, and so doing, facilitate more opportunities for international exchange and networking. The entire event will be livestreamed and documented in a publication and on film.
Curators: Patricia Eckermann, Sharon Dodua Otoo
Project directors: Tatjana Niederberghaus, Jesko Vorbeck (project director of the Ruhrfestspiele)
Head dramaturge: Jan Hein
Jury: Aminata Cissé Schleicher, Elisa Diallo, Ibou Coulibaly Diop, Dominique Haensell
Guest contributor and research advisor: Jeannette Oholi
Guest contributors and discussion participants: Patrice G. Poutrus, Tiffany N. Florvil
Commentary: Yuvviki Dioh
Opening: Bernardine Evaristo
Literature festival: as part of the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen: 30 May – 2 Jun. 2024