Farrokhzad, Athena

arrokhzad, Athena (c) MärtaThisner

Athena Farrokhzad, born in Tehran in 1983 and raised in Sweden, is a poet, playwright, translator and literary critic. In her texts, she deals with migration, racism, family and motherhood – and storytelling about these topics. The poetry collection “Bleiweiß” (translated by Clara Sondermann, Kookbooks 2019) was published in German.

Festival Content

WRITING MOTHERHOOD

„…grammatickt mamal aus…“

Kleines Parkett 8/6€ | Tickets

 

“How much poetic furor has been suffocated by the stench of diapers, quite literally in the muck, without even making it to the trash?” asks poet Dagmara Kraus in her polemic essay on poetry and motherhood. Other poets writing about motherhood found collectives, understandably called “CARE RAGE.”

Ursula Andkjær Olsen, Tjawangwa Dema, Athena Farrokhzad, Joanna Mueller, and Alice Notley write about motherhood, mother figures, pregnancy and childbirth, miscarriage, and abortion. In their poems, they seek a language to describe existential questions of motherhood and its archetypes.

 

Olsen, Ursula AndkjærDema, TjawangwaFarrokhzad, AthenaMueller, JoannaNotley, Alice

WRITING VIOLENCE

Kleines Parkett 8/6 € | Tickets

 

With Kemi Alabi, Yevgeniy Breyger, Kholoud Charaf, Athena Farrokhzad, Madara Gruntmane, Ramin Mazhar and Ganna Gryniva (music), moderated by Bohdan Tokarskyi

Violence can be silent – but it can also develop its own language. How might we counter violence with another language, one that does not further stigmatize its victims or – in the worst case – re-traumatize them? This evening’s poets will contend with different forms of violence: authoritarian regimes, censorship, war and civil war, forced migration, flight, and expulsion – but also everyday violence, racist police profiling, violence against LGTBQIA* people, femicides, or sexualized violence within the family or community. Poetry can both document and remember violence, but can also initiate therapeutic processes, extending the opportunity for solidarity and healing.

 

Alabi, KemiBreyger, YevgeniyCharaf, KholoudFarrokhzad, AthenaGruntmane, MadaraMazhar, RaminGryniva, Ganna