Özlem Özgül Dündar - Kaoutar Harchi
For the final artist talk in our Uncivil Society series, we have invited the writers
Özlem Özgül Dündar and
Kaoutar Harchi. In their work, both deal with the issues of right-wing violence and structural racism.
Özlem Özgül Dündar’s radio and theatre play “türken, feuer” is based on the murderous arson attack on the house of the Genç family, carried out by neo-Nazis in the German city of Solingen on 29 May 1993. The play narrates the day subjectively, from the perspective of three women. Central to this is the voice of Gürsün Inçe, who sacrifices herself when, to save her three-year old daughter, she jumps with her out of a window.
The post-migrant writing of author and sociologist Kaoutar Harchi, who was born in Eastern France in 1987, addresses the structural and open racism of French society. In her fourth, autobiographical novel “Comme nous existons” (2021), she retraces the intellectual and political development of a child of post-colonial immigration. In her memories, she recalls moments of affection with her parents Hania and Mohammed, who came to France from Morocco, but also her political awakening after the unrest and uprisings that erupted in France in 2005 after two youths, Ziad Benna and Bouna Traoré, died in a police pursuit.
On the night of the discussion, they will present their work and approaches, and discuss forms of writing through which to adequately address racist violence in a post-migrant society.
Our guests:
Kaoutar Harchi is a sociologist and writer. She is the author of four novels and numerous sociological articles, among which are the essay “Je n’ai qu’une langue, ce n’est pas la mienne” (2016) and the autobiographical novel “Comme nous existons” (2021).
Özlem Özgül Dündar studied literature and philosophy in Wuppertal and at Deutsches Literaturinstitut Leipzig. She writes lyric poetry, prose, stage texts and essays and works as a translator. Her debut lyric poetry work, “gedanken zerren”, was published in 2018. She is a co-editor of “Flexen – Flâneusen* schrieben Städte” (2019) and was awarded the “Hörspiel des Jahres 2020” prize for her play “türken, feuer”. She is currently writing her first novel.
Matthias Dell is a freelance film, media and theatre critic for Deutschlandradio, Zeit-Online, Cargo, epd Film, Spiegel.de and FAS. His published books to date are “Herrlich inkorrekt”. Die Thiel-Boerne-Tatorte (2012), Über Thomas Heise (2014), Duisburg Düsterburg. Werner Ruzicka im Gespräch (2018).
Back
