At this year's Muslim Cultural Week, held under the theme "Coming Closer & Creating Peace," things were buzzing for the Poetry Project! Among other activities, our poets participated in the reading "Voices of Longing," which took place on October 3rd as part of the 4th Muslim Cultural Week. Poets such as Bahadȋn Akhan, Shahzamir Hataki, and Jamal Abasi performed alongside other multilingual poets.

All were beautifully accompanied by the soulful sounds of the Ney flute, which added a special intensity to the poems. Another highlight was the engaging discussion about whether we need to speak the languages in which poems were originally written to truly understand—or feel—a poem.

Not only did our poets have the chance to perform at the MCW, but our anthology also received a spotlight at the mini book fair in St. Jakobi Church. The project team gave a brief accompanying presentation on the book's creation process.

Additionally, a poetry workshop held at the TPP office offered participants the chance to write their own texts, inspired by short poetic lines from renowned international poets. A concluding (short) walk around our office provided further creative inspiration for poems about, from, or dedicated to the city of Berlin.


Image: © Burcu Elmas

Image: © Burcu Elmas