»Be by my side me and see what has happened to me.«

The Poetry Project is an innovative literary dialogue project that supports young people with refugee backgrounds as they express their experiences through poetry. The project specifically uses the poetic form to express and preserve feelings and stories in verse. Things that seem unspeakable at first are transformed into an artistic dialogue; conversely, things that once seemed “foreign” become more familiar.

To the Poems

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Podcast Special: Martin Durm im Gespräch mit Rojin Namer

Martin Durm ist ein preisgekrönter ehemaliger ARD-Radioreporter und Auslandskorrepsondent. Für seine Beiträge über Nahost wurde er mehrfach ausgezeichnet. Martin Durm stellt die Poet*innen des The Poetry Project in einer losen Porträt-Reihe vor. In dieser Folge spricht er mit Rojin Namer über Ankunft, Zugehörigkeit und Erinnerungen an Damaskus.

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Our podcast is here!

In The Poetry Project Podcast, you can get to know the poets behind the texts. In each episode, a poet talks about the stories, feelings and dreams that find expression in their poetry.

The Poetry Project Podcast is produced and hosted by Vincent Weisz. Editorial by The Poetry Project.

You can listen to the podcast here

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Writing History Together

Since 2016, The Poetry Project has been supporting young people with refugee backgrounds on their journey to use language as a tool of empowerment. In hundreds of workshops, thousands of texts have been created – courageous, delicate, political. Our authors’ words move, connect, and transform. Today many of them are not only artists, but also citizens of this country; they have learned German, attended university, or completed vocational training. They take on responsibility – including within The Poetry Project.

As part of the project “Writing History Together”, funded by the Deutsche Postcode Lottery, twelve young adults are being trained as creative writing workshop leaders. They stand for confident, equal participation – and for a different image of integration.

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Our new book is here!

The anthology "Be by my side and see what has happened to me" was published in collaboration with PEN Berlin. It is the result of our workshops over the past one and a half years and brings together the writings of 32 young poets. The book was released in November 2024 by Verbrecher Verlag and is now available in bookstores everywhere, as well as directly from the publisher.

To the Workshops

Our Poets

These are the faces behind the texts.

Written. And heard.

Our public readings are a stage for diversity. Come by!

 

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Anthologie 2019

I wanted to stay. I left.

A lyrical dialogue with tomorrow's Germans

»What can be heard in these poems is intuition, experience, and emotion, directly transformed into verbal images. Perhaps Kafka would have said: like an axe for the frozen sea within us.«

—Joseph Vogl

»The Poetry Project is a "hidden mover" for us because it fosters intercultural exchange and uses the power of poetry to help break down prejudices and counter anti-democratic tendencies.«

—Thomas Northoff, Deloitte Foundation

»A performance...that one already knows one day will belong in the German Historical Museum.«

—Gustav Seibt

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