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Poetic Chapbook in the Digital Age – Online Exhibition I

How to publish a poem without funding? Which DIY formats are poets coming up with beyond traditional collections? Which possibilities do Facebook, Twitter and Instagram offer when it comes to circulating poetry and digital self-publishing?

On January 24th “Poetic Chapbook in the Digital age” showcased 38 of the printed and digital Innovations of the low- to no-budget spectrum of the literary pubishing scene at Lettrétage. Everything was offered, ranging from Chapbooks, meaning DIY poem collections, self-made copies and stapled leaflets to digital formats such as Instagram poems and freely circulating PDFs. The exhibition now goes online as curator Nina Medved continues her project, documenting her most eccentric findings on our Website/Blog.

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It’s lit – Summer party for Berlin’s indie literary Scene

Indie lit might be little, but in Berlin it’s literally everywhere:
lighting up writers’ balconies and translators’ kitchen tables, readings in bars and event spaces, hand-bound magazines and limited edition poetry collections. Being everywhere at once is our superpower. But just for tonight, let’s put down our pens and microphones and converge in one place. Toast each other’s hard work. Shake it all off on the dance floor. We’ve earned it. Wherever we are, we’re lit.

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Introducing Literally Speaking: a fiction reading series

We would like to introduce a new series of interviews featuring literary reading series and projects in Berlin. To kick it off, we spoke with Traci Kim, the founder of “Literally Speaking“, a monthly reading series dedicated to English-speaking authors in Berlin. The series has become an important get-together for an exceptionally diverse community.

“Literally Speaking” recently celebrated its second anniversary. The fact that the English-speaking writer’s community in Berlin has been given such a dependable stage is largely due to its busy, seemingly never-tired advocate and curator Traci Kim.

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Multilingual Consultation and Info Day: Work Stipend for non-german writers

Multilingual Consultation and Info Day
16.05.2019, 1-6 pm
Lettrétage, Free admission

For the third time, the Berlin Senate will grant a Work Stipend for Berlin-based authors that write in languages other than German. The application deadline ends on June 18th and the grant refers to the year 2020.
We would like to enable all eligible authors to apply for the scholarship. Therefore, there will be a multilingual info and individual consultation session in collaboration with the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe (attendance free of charge):

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5 questions to Nora & Lily from IDEOGRAMMA

In our online series “5 Fragen an…” (“5 questions to…”) we usually pose five questions to Berlin literary activists. As the CROWD-Conference in Berlin is taking place at the beginning of February, we decided to go a bit further and take the cahnce to introduce Lettrétage’s international CROWD-partners. Lisa Lettrétage first spoke to Nora Hadjisotiriou and Lily Michaelides from IDEOGRAMMA, the Cypriot CROWD-partner.

IDEOGRAMMA emphasises and supports cultural exchange between Cypriot and International culture. How does literature enable or facilitate such cultural exchange?

Ideogramma believes that one’s language is an inherent part of one’s history, culture and past and the preservation of all languages is one of Ideogramma’s objectives. For this reason all writers and poets at Ideogramma’s events are encouraged to read in the original language and / or dialect that the text / poem is written in. The same is true of all the publications which are trilingual; the text in the original language and in translation in Greek and English. Continue reading “5 questions to Nora & Lily from IDEOGRAMMA”

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Moshabak-Nights: Interview with Mudar Alhaggi, founder of NAWRAS

Moshabak-Nights return this Friday (19.01.) to the Lettrétage and will so again in February (16.02.). We were lucky enough to get a short interview with Mudar Alhaggi, the founder of NAWRAS, about all things Moshabak and the meaning of NAWRAS.

The internet-research for the meaning of Moshabak and NAWRAS brings up only a few results. How should these names be understood? Is there a history and meaning to this that eludes non-syrians?

The idea of the name “Nawras” came through the Arabic meaning of the word “seagull”, which is a seabird that can be seen upon the shores of the whole world. It became a metaphor for the group as many Syrians have had to cross over the seas to arrive to the shores of the new land. Seagulls are one of the first and most familiar things one sees when arriving on new terrain that gives the sense of being home. Moshabak is a traditional sweet in Syrian culture while at the same time it derives from the word “network” meaning to connect, which is what these nights are all about.

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Sharmilla from Speaking Volumes talks about her ventures in literature

Speaking Volumes are producers of literary events that focus on international authors of color who perform their literature rather on stage – in very different fashion. Sharmilla and her partners have curated a great program with four authors from different directions of the world which they will be presenting in Berlin, 16 November at Lettrétage.

Published originally on the CROWD Blog.

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