Poetry has always had a special relationship with disappearance – its verses are fleeting, as if spoken into the wind. However, poems also have a special resilience and even become ciphers of resistance in times of political pressure. Two contemporary positions exemplify the facets of lyrical writing and speaking.
In her poetry, Pegah Ahmadi repeatedly links the experience of exile with the existential situation of the human being, she explores silence and finds a new language for what wants to elude being said.
Jürgen Nendza’s poems find in nature the traces of change to which this world is incessantly subjected. Whereby nature here naturally also includes the industrial ruins that survive even where man has already disappeared again.
Das war also die Zukunft / Auffliegendes Gras
Poetry reading with Pegah Ahmadi and Jürgen Nendza
Presentation: Simone Scharbert
9 May 2024 | 2:00pm
Pegah Ahmadi, born in Iran in 1974, is a poet, translator and literary critic living in Cologne. She is considered one of the most important protagonists of young Iranian poetry. Her new volume of poetry “Das war also die Zukunft” (Edition H. Schroeder) has just been published.
Jürgen Nendza was born in Essen in 1957 and made his debut in 1992 with the poetry collection “Glaszeit”. He has been honoured with the Christian Wagner Prize, among others, for his poetry. Most recently, the volume “Auffliegendes Gras” was published by Poetenladen-Verlag in 2023.
Simone Scharbert lives and works as a freelance author and lecturer in Erftstadt. In her podcast “Nahaufnahme” (Close-up), she demonstrates the relevance of poetry in the face of current social issues.
More info about Wuppertaler Literatur Biennale 2024
