Looking out LR’s backdoor: 04/24

After our first issue on 21 March, with 25 essays, reviews, columns, reports, videos and podcasts, we have taken it a little easier this month. We look at India, which held elections a week ago, travel to the desolate literary scene of Malawi in sub-Saharan Africa, try to understand Celan's poetic architecture, and write about the latest book releases.

All texts are available in Arabic, English, French, German and Spanish.

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Stanley Onjezani Kenani gives a gloomy, trenchant summary of the development of Malawi’s literature. The book industry in the south-east African country is virtually idle. Authors have no choice but to publish abroad. Stanley Onjezani Kenani was born in Malawi in 1976 and lives in France. He was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2008 and 2012. In 2014, he was named one of the 39 most promising African writers under the age of 40.

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Come in. (Opens in a new window)I (Opens in a new window)'ll s (Opens in a new window)how you my picture (Opens in a new window)s. I (Opens in a new window) pain (Opens in a new window)ted them mysel (Opens in a new window)f. (Opens in a new window)

Winfried Weiser reviews Anke Feuchtenberger’s Genossin Kuckuck. The graphic novel was shortlisted for the Leipzig Book Prize and illustrates the story of two girls from the 1960s to the early 1990s in the GDR province in a labyrinthine narrative thread. Anke Feuchtenberger lives and works in Germany, Hamburg and Western Pomerania. The reviewer was a teacher until 2022. He is currently a passionate reader, traveller and festival-goer.

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Gallant lies (2) (Opens in a new window)

In his poetry column Galant Lies, Alexandru Bulucz writes about Paul Celan’s Eine Hand, which he wrote for Ingeborg Bachmann. The interpretation provides background information on Stundenholz, which plays a central role in the poem. Stundenholz is also the title of Alexandru Bulucz’s book of poetry (Opens in a new window) published in March. Paul Celan was born in Czernowitz, Romania, and died in Paris in 1970. The poet, critic, translator and editor Alexandru Bulucz lives in Berlin, Germany.

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In search of the lost time (Opens in a new window)

On the occasion of the start of the elections in India, Jane Borges reports on how she turned her grandfather’s migration story into two successful projects. Borges‘ debut novel Bombay Balchão (2019) was shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puruskar and the Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize. The oral history project Soboicar documents the history of Mumbai using eyewitness accounts, photos and video interviews. The journalist and author Jane Borges lives in India, Mumbai and was honoured with the RedInk Journalism Award in 2022.

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Language can also be a weapon (Opens in a new window)

Christoph Nick writes about Ronya Othmann’s Vierundsiebzig. The reviewer praises the skilful literary treatment of the cruel events and gives impressions of his personal reading experience. Ronya Othmann is the daughter of a Yazidi father and a German mother. She lives in Leipzig, Germany. The journalist and author Christoph Nick lives in Brussels, Belgium.

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