11 October 2021
Archive opening and book presentation with Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Katja Lange-Müller, Angela Winkler and Helmut Böttiger
Tuesday, 19 October, Pariser Platz, Livestream at www.adk.de
Four years ago, writer, theatre director and actor Emine Sevgi Özdamar handed the first part of her artistic estate over to the Archives of the Akademie der Künste. At the formal opening of the Özdamar Archive on 19 October 2021, Angela Winkler will read from Emine Sevgi Özdamar’s new novel Ein von Schatten begrenzter Raum, followed by a conversation between the author and Katja Lange-Müller, hosted by Helmut Böttiger. Previously unknown documents from Özdamar’s theatre work, which play a significant role in her latest novel, will be shown in a showcase presentation.
Emine Sevgi Özdamar does not write her books in her Turkish mother tongue but rather in German. Her texts, which are defined by their intercultural and multi-perspective nature, are an outstanding voice in new German literature. The same is true of her latest work, which was nominated for the Bayerischer Buchpreis Award 2021. The event is part of a Turkish-German literature initiative funded by Stiftung Mercator, which will continue in the winter with a broad school project (including writing workshops, readings and visits to the Literature Archive). A closing event is planned at the Akademie der Künste in early summer 2022.
Emine Sevgi Özdamar, who was born in Malatya (Turkey) in 1946, lives in Berlin. During her first stay in Berlin from 1965 to1967, she worked briefly at an electrical factory. She then attended drama school in Istanbul until 1970. Fascinated by the theatre of Brecht, she returned to Berlin in 1976 in order to work with Benno Besson and Matthias Langhoff, first at the Volksbühne Berlin (East) and later also in Paris. Working at Schauspielhaus Bochum from 1979 to 1984, she directed the première of her first theatre piece in 1986. Theatre work with Ruth Berghaus, Franz Xaver Kroetz and Einar Schleef followed. Özdamar has been a freelance writer since 1986, as well as being an actor. In 2017, she was elected as a member of the Akademie der Künste. Her work has been translated into numerous languages.
Works (selection): Karagöz in Alamania (theatre play, 1982); Mutterzunge (Mother Tongue) (stories, 1990), Das Leben ist eine Karawanserei, hat zwei Türen, aus einer kam ich rein, aus der anderen ging ich raus (Life is a Caravanserai: Has Two Doors I Came in One I Went Out the Other) (novel, 1992), Die Brücke vom Goldenen Horn (The Bridge of the Golden Horn) (novel, 1998), Der Hof im Spiegel (The Courtyard in the Mirror) (stories, 2001), Seltsame Sterne starren zur Erde. Wedding – Pankow 1976/77 (Strange Stars Stare to Earth. Wedding-Pankow 1976/77) (novel, 2003), Sonne auf halbem Weg. Die Istanbul-Berlin-Trilogie (Das Leben ist eine Karawanserei, Die Brücke vom Goldenen Horn, Sonne auf halbem Weg, 2006)
Awards (selection): 1991 Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, 1993 Walter Hasenclever Prize of the city of Aachen, 1999 Adelbert von Chamisso Prize, 2004 Kleist Prize, 2009 Kunstpreis Berlin/Fontane Prize, 2010 Carl Zuckmayer Medal, 2012 Alice Salomon Poetics Prize. Guest professorships in Hamburg, New York and Paris (Sorbonne), 2021 nominated for the Bayerischer Buchpreis Award.
Event Information
Ein von Schatten begrenzter Raum – Emine Sevgi Özdamar
Archive opening and book presentation with Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Katja Lange-Müller, Angela Winkler and Helmut Böttiger, welcome: Gabriele Radecke
Tuesday, 19/10/2021, 7 pm
Akademie der Künste; Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
€ 6/4
Ticket reservation: Tel. +49 (0)30 200 57-1000, ticket@adk.de
Online tickets: www.adk.de/tickets
Also as a Livestream at www.adk.de and accessible online for four weeks thereafter on Vimeo.
Press contact: Reservations at presse@adk.de or Tel. +49 (0)30 200 57-1514
In case of queries: Dr Gabriele Radecke, Literature Archive, Tel. +49 (0)30 200 57-3200, radecke@adk.de