Katharina Schultens is an award-winning German poet who recently became the director of Haus für Poesie, which runs – among other things – Berlin’s top poetry festival. This June, the 24th annual instalment of the poesiefestival will offer up a multilingual, genre-spanning celebration of all things lyric.
We wanted to address the atomisation of society, especially since the pandemic
What are you most looking forward to at the festival?
Oh, that’s a hard one. (laughs) The deputy director, Matthias Kniep, and I basically handpicked everyone we have been wanting to see for years. There are some big names, like Eileen Myles and Alice Notley, which I’m looking forward to. And then there’s Kim Hyesoon from South Korea – Matthias has been a fan of hers for a long time and I love her work, so we are excited that she will be giving this year’s ‘Berliner Rede zur Poesie’ (Berlin poetry speech).
We have also tried to interconnect artists throughout the festival. The poets appear at their special readings and themed events, but we also have these afternoon talks where we bring them together with other poets they might have something in common with – these talks are the backbone of the festival.
Will there be much on for English speakers?
Yes. The evening events will be translated into both German and English. And several events will be fully in English – like the poetry talk with Eileen Myles and Alice Notley, the discussion on AI, the event with US poet Julian Talamantez Brolaski.
One exception will be the spoken word event, which will be in many different languages – and untranslated – because the artists told us their art form is closer to music: it has to function in its own language. The same goes for the Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab. Her texts will appear in Urdu script and in Latin script, without being translated.
What’s the thinking behind this year’s theme ‘no one is an island’?
I see quite a vibrant scene here in Berlin.
It is based on a quote by John Donne – the original was “no man is an island”, but obviously we made it “no one” instead. We wanted to address the atomisation of society, especially since the pandemic, although it started beforehand. So we wanted to say, ‘Well, we’re in this together’ – and it might be advisable for everyone to talk more (laughs).
And we think poetry is a great connector. It bridges gaps that might be hard to bridge otherwise. So the poesiefestival wants to focus on people – and conversations.
One often hears about the death of poetry. What’s the status of the form today?
I think it is actually quite popular. I mean, we often have a full house for events at Haus für Poesie. And there are so many people in Berlin who are writing poetry, and in so many languages.
Poetry can react really quickly to the present moment because there aren’t so many obstacles to being able to do it: you don’t need much for poetry. You don’t need the kinds of funds and training you need for installation art or composing music, for example. So I see quite a vibrant scene here in Berlin.
And I think there really is the desire to hear somebody else’s experience expressed in language, and to feel a connection. This is what we want to give everyone who comes to the festival.
- poesiefestival berlin at Akademie der Künste, Jun 9-16, in various languages
