Disrupting Literature: Anti-Racist Strategies for Dutch and German Publishing

Description

Co-curation and charining of the following event:

The Dutch- and German-language literary scenes have much to celebrate together in 2024, with Netherlands and Flanders joining the Leipzig book fair as guest of honour. Yet the cultural sphere must also grapple with the same challenges as Dutch and German society at large. This event faces the exclusionary structures that are reflected in the publishing industry head-on – and aims to showcase and share strategies to disrupt them.

How do writers and publishing professionals from marginalised communities make their voices heard? What anti-racist initiatives in the industry have proven fruitful in the long run? What can we learn from each other across the two contexts?

This panel discussion brings together Ebissé Wakjira and Elisa Diallo to address such questions on the basis of their remarkable range of expertise and experience behind and in front of the scenes of Dutch and German literature. Their respective work exemplifies artistic approaches to writing a pluralistic society, from the ground-breaking anthologies Zwart: Afro-Europese Literatur uit de Lage Landen (2018) and De Goede Immigrant (2020), which Wakjira has co-edited, to Diallo’s book-length essay Fille de France (2019). At the same time, both offer insights into the workings of publishing houses, prize juries, and projects ran in communities of like-minded people. The conversation will be moderated by Leila Essa, who has contributed to the anthology anders bleiben (2023) alongside Diallo and currently examines the topics at hand for the Dutch Research Council.

Period	31 Jan 2024
Event type	Workshop
Location	Amsterdam, NetherlandsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International