Arabic Literature in Berlin

Organised by Islam Dayeh and Haytham El-Wardany. The seminar is sponsored by the Cluster of Excellence “Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective.”

This seminar will be held in Arabic and English.

Berlin has become one of the centres of Arabic literary creativity. The political and social upheavals that have led many people, from all walks of life, to find a new home in Germany, and particularly in Berlin, has brought about significant changes not only to the literary landscape of Berlin, but also to the varieties and genres of contemporary Arabic literature. Its current post-national and diasporic turn has seen Arabic writers engage with and explore a wide range of literary forms and topics, including war, refuge, belonging, dystopia, fantasy and science fiction. The seminar aims to draw attention to ongoing Arabic literary production in Berlin by (1) examining writing practices in multi-lingual contexts, most notably the experiences of contemporary Arabic writers in Germany; (2) by offering a hands-on writing workshop with the aim of encouraging seminar participants to partake in the creative process of writing and translating. The course is taught together with Haytham El-Wardany, an Egyptian writer and translator based in Berlin. The seminar will include presentations and discussions with guest writers and translators.

Block seminar for students at Freie Universität Berlin, summer semester 2022. The seminar is open to any student of Freie Universität Berlin who has an intermediate to advanced level of Arabic and is interested in trying out or cultivating their literary Arabic or translation skills (Arabic to German/English). The block seminar consists of five days during the summer semester of 2022 (Fridays and/or Saturdays).

Further information on the seminar can be found in the course catalogue of the Freie Universität Berlin.

Registration: via Campus Management, please find further information in the course catalogue of Freie Universität Berlin.