Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
»White Europeans who read Gurnah come to understand their own provinciality.« [ZEIT]
When Abdulrazak Gurnah presented his novel »Afterlives« at the ilb in 2022, it became impressively clear how far-reaching – and how quietly revolutionarily – his literature reflects historical relations of violence. In »Afterlives«, Gurnah explores the entanglement of East African history with German imperialism without moralizing. His novels combine a joy in storytelling with an unpretentious, restrained tone and deep empathy for his protagonists – often young people searching for their place in the world. »Gurnah lets his characters, and with them the reader, break new ground« [WELT]. To mark the start of the anniversary, the British-Tanzanian Nobel Prize winner is now returning to the festival. In conversation with author and Bachmann Prize winner Sharon Dodua Otoo, he offers insights into the foundations of his writing, his literary influences, and his worldview. Otoo’s novel »Adas Raum« is a radically unconventional work that negotiates memory and history through a layered journey from Ghana in 1459 to present-day Berlin. Together, they discuss recurring themes in Gurnah’s work: exile and migration, colonial continuities – and writing as both political and poetic practice.
The German book premiere of »Theft«, the new novel by Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah, is being organized by the Lit:Potsdam literature festival.
It takes the form of a public reading on 11 September 2025 at 7 pm in the Nikolaisaal, Potsdam.
The anniversary program is made possible by the LOTTO Foundation Berlin.
With Abdulrazak Gurnah, Sharon Dodua Otoo
Read by Frank Arnold
Simultaneous translation by Lilian Astrid Geese and Silvia Schreiber
This event was held in English with selected reading parts in German.
Our Website: literaturfestival.com
Our Instagram-Account: instagram.com/ilb_festival
»White Europeans who read Gurnah come to understand their own provinciality.« [ZEIT]
When Abdulrazak Gurnah presented his novel »Afterlives« at the ilb in 2022, it became impressively clear how far-reaching – and how quietly revolutionarily – his literature reflects historical relations of violence. In »Afterlives«, Gurnah explores the entanglement of East African history with German imperialism without moralizing. His novels combine a joy in storytelling with an unpretentious, restrained tone and deep empathy for his protagonists – often young people searching for their place in the world. »Gurnah lets his characters, and with them the reader, break new ground« [WELT]. To mark the start of the anniversary, the British-Tanzanian Nobel Prize winner is now returning to the festival. In conversation with author and Bachmann Prize winner Sharon Dodua Otoo, he offers insights into the foundations of his writing, his literary influences, and his worldview. Otoo’s novel »Adas Raum« is a radically unconventional work that negotiates memory and history through a layered journey from Ghana in 1459 to present-day Berlin. Together, they discuss recurring themes in Gurnah’s work: exile and migration, colonial continuities – and writing as both political and poetic practice.
The German book premiere of »Theft«, the new novel by Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah, is being organized by the Lit:Potsdam literature festival.
It takes the form of a public reading on 11 September 2025 at 7 pm in the Nikolaisaal, Potsdam.
The anniversary program is made possible by the LOTTO Foundation Berlin.
With Abdulrazak Gurnah, Sharon Dodua Otoo
Read by Frank Arnold
Simultaneous translation by Lilian Astrid Geese and Silvia Schreiber
This event was held in English with selected reading parts in German.
Our Website: literaturfestival.com
Our Instagram-Account: instagram.com/ilb_festival
