Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu | © Stefanie Silber, PEN-Zentrum
For Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu, born in Adi-Keh/Eritrea in 1981, being alive is not something to take for granted. Until 2009, the journalist, poet and writer was program director at educational broadcaster Radio Bana in Eritrea. She was then arrested, however, and spent six years in a military jail. No charges were ever made and no case was brought against her, but she was interrogated and subjected to physical torture. After managing to escape in 2018, she initially received a scholarship from the Writers in Exile program in Berlin. Her first volume of poetry to be translated into German – Das Wunderhorn (The Magic Horn), published in 2023 – is a collection of verses from the time during and after her incarceration. Her thoughts on human rights and justice resonate richly, testifying to a profound yearning for peace.
With her on the podium: her poetry translator Hans Thill
Moderation: Nora Zapf
Born in 1954, Hans Thill, lyricist and translator, has headed the Edenkoben art center since 2010 and led the translation workshop Poesie der Nachbarn - Dichter übersetzen Dichter (The Neighbor’s Poetry – Poets Translate Poets) since 2003. The most recent of his many accolades was the Basel Poetry Prize in 2021.
Nora Zapf is a poet, a translator from Spanish and Portuguese, a research associate in Hispanic (Latin American) Studies in Innsbruck and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lyrik Kabinett Foundation.
Sponsored by Neustart Literatur (Fresh Start Literature), a program run by the Deutscher Literaturfonds (German Literature Fund) under the aegis of Neustart Kultur (Fresh Start Culture).
Tickets: 8 euros/6 euros (discount rate). Lyrik Kabinett members receive free admission. For more information, please visit the Lyrik Kabinett website. The event will be held in German.
LMU and the Lyrik Kabinett have worked together very intensively for over 30 years. The more than 70,000 works subsumed under the Lyrik Kabinett Foundation are available via OPAC to everyone related to LMU. Numerous events provide a fascinating insight into the current poetic landscape.