Verstransfer: Berlijn & Amsterdam x 2

Eight young poets from the Netherlands and Germany will translate eachother’s poems and present the fruits of their labour during four poetry programs in Berlin and Amsterdam: on Tuesday, May 20 (in Berlin; LiteraturWERKstatt), Thursday, May 22 (in Amsterdam; Perdu), Tuesday, June 3 (in Amsterdam; Goethe Institut) and Thursday, June 5 (in Berlin; LiteraturWERKstatt).

Two years ago ten Dutch language poets were featured during the Dutch-German poetry series ‘Sprache in Essenz’: a series of workshops and performances resulting in the anthology Keine triste Isolde (Wallstein Verlag, 2007), which contains translated poems of a.o. Anneke Brassinga, Tonnus Oosterhoff and Arjen Duinker. ‘Verstransfer Berlin-Amsterdam’ is a sequel to this project, now focussing on poets of the younger generation.

First up are the Dutch poets Hélène Gelèns and Jan-Wilem Anker, and their German colleagues Marion Poschmann and Tom Schulz. They’ll read their poems and translations on Tuesday, May 20 in Berlin, at LiteraturWERKstatt (Kulturbrauerei, Knaackstraße 97; www.literaturwerkstatt.org), and on Thursday 22 in Amsterdam, at literary theatre Perdu (Kloveniersburgwal 86; www.perdu.nl).

Two weeks later Verstransfer Berlin-Amsterdam continues with Alfred Schaffer, Steffen Popp, Thomas Möhlmann and Christian Schloyer reading on Tuesday, June 3 in Amsterdam, at the Goethe Institut (8:00 PM, Herengracht 470; www.goethe.de/Ins/nl/ams/), and on Thursday, June 5 in Berlin, at LiteraturWERKstatt (Kulturbrauerei, Knaackstraße 97; www.literaturwerkstatt.org).

• Verstransfer Berlin-Amsterdam 1 Featuring Hélène Gelèns, Marion Poschmann, Jan-Willem Anker and Tom Schulz Tuesday May 20 (Berlin) & Thursday May 22 (Amsterdam)

• Verstransfer Berlin-Amsterdam 2 Featuring Alfred Schaffer, Steffen Popp, Thomas Möhlmann, Christian Schloyer Tuesday June 3 (Amsterdam) & Thursday June 5 (Berlin)

About the poets:

Hélène Gelèns (A, 1967) writes poetry, essays and short prose. Her debut collection niet beginnen bij het hoofd was published at Uitgeverij 521 in 2006 and shortlisted for the C. Buddingh’ Prize in 2007.

Marion Poschmann (B, 1969) was born in Essen and currently lives in Berlin. She was awarded the Alfred Döblin Stipendium in 2002, the same year she published her novel Baden bei Gewitter and her poetry collection Verschlossene Kammern. Two years later Grund zu Schafen followed.

Jan-Willem Anker (A, 1978) is a poet and programmer for the Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam. His first collection, Inzinkingen (De Bezige Bij, 2005), was awarded the Jo Peters Poetry Prize. In 2006 he published his second collection, Donkere arena.

Tom Schulz (B, 1970) is a writer and translator in Berlin. Among his published collections are: Abends in Lidl (Krash Neue Edition, 2004) and Vergeuden, den Tag (Kookbooks, 2006).

Alfred Schaffer (A, 1973) first published Zijn opkomst in de voorstad (De Bezige Bij, 2000), awarded with the Jo Peters Poetry Prize, after which three collections followed to date: Dwaalgasten (2002), Geen hand voor ogen (2004) and Schuim (2006).

Steffen Popp (B, 1978) lives and works in Berlin. His debut collection Wie Alpen was published in 2004, followed by the novel Ohrenberg oder der Weg dorthin (2006). His work is published by Kookbooks.

Thomas Möhlmann (A, 1975) was awarded Van der Hoogt Prize 2007 for his debut collection De vloeibare jongen (Prometheus, 2005), which was also shortlisted for the C. Buddingh’ Prize in 2006.

Christian Schloyer (B, 1976) published his first collection spiel ur meere in 2007 at Kookbooks. He is editor of the literary review Laufschrift. and member of Wortwerk, a writers group in Neurenberg.

Acknowledgements

Verstransfer Berlin-Amsterdam is organized by LiteraturWERKstatt Berlin in association with the Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature (NLPVF), Freie Universität Berlin, Goethe Institut Amsterdam en Literary Theatre Perdu.

Published: May 19, 2008 news | poetry