In June we returned once again to Osnabrück, for the Long Night of Churches. Twenty-three churches in Osnabrück opened their doors to an evening for art, culture, music and spoken word. In St. Mary's Church, our authors Jamal Abasi and Ali Alzaeem read unpublished poetry. Their works touched on themes of home and exodus, freedom and pain; on hope and on longing. The reading was followed by a question-and-answer session moderated by Pastor Matthias Bochow and German philologist Christian Schneider.

Something the audience might take away from the evening in Osnabrück, according to Ali Alzaeem: "Many Germans have no points of contact with our countries of origin, they imagine the ‘Orient’ as one entity and then believe that we are all like Aladdin with a flying carpet. Our poems give them a better, more complex image.”

Many thanks to the Evangelical Lutheran Parish of St. Mary for providing space for this reading!

Reading for church attendees.
Reading for church attendees.
Image: © Ali Tuzcu