But existence, too, must be poetic

LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT (SECOND HALF)

On March 9 at Berlin’s Lettrétage, we are putting on a celebration of the great Austrian author Friederike Mayröcker—"But existence, too, must be poetic": An Evening of Friederike Mayröcker. After the opening discussion about Mayröcker and her living legacy with the poet-translators Donna Stonecipher and Alexander Booth and the poet-critic Ryan Ruby, writers from Berlin and beyond will be reading their work aloud. Below, you can find out more about our six selected poets.

You can see more about the event here.

Julia Bosson is a writer originally from Ojai, California. Her work has been featured in publications such as BOMB, NOBODY, GUERNICA, and THE BELIEVER, among others, and awarded funding from the Fulbright Program, the DAAD, and the MFJC. She currently teaches writing at the Cooper Union and is at work on a novel about the life and journalism of Joseph Roth.

Don Clermont's fiction has appeared in the CHICAGO QUARTERLY REVIEW and his poetry has appeared in SALAMANDER, YEMASEE, and elsewhere. He was a finalist for the 2020 Steve Kowit Poetry Prize. 

Ramona de Jesús (Kolumbien, 1990) ist Dichterin und Übersetzerin und zwischen Bogotá und Mumbai aufgewachsen. Seit 2010 lebt sie in Deutschland, wo sie an der Freien Universität ihren Master in Vergleichender Literaturwissenschaft machte. Darauf folgte ein Master in kreativem Schreiben an der Universidad Nacional Tres de Febrero in Buenos Aires. Sie erhielt Stipendien des Berliner Senats und der Jan-Michalski- Stiftung in der Schweiz. Ihr Buch Dos metros cuadrados de piel wurde in Kolumbien mit dem Nationalen Preis für unveröffentlichte poetische Werke ausgezeichnet. Momentan lebt sie in Oberbösa.

Vijay Khurana is a fiction writer and translator. His debut novel, THE PASSENGER SEAT, was shortlisted for the "Novel Prize" and will be published in 2025. His latest translation is an excerpt from Senthuran Varatharajah's novel RED (HUNGER), forthcoming in the 2024 WHITE REVIEW TRANSLATION ANTHOLOGY. He's currently completing a PhD in creative-critical writing at Queen Mary, University of London.

Tessa Scott (she/her) is a designer, teacher, and poet from Aotearoa New Zealand with an MFA from Sydney University. Her poetry and short fiction has appeared in journals including LANDFALL (NZ), MSLEXIA (UK), CREVICE (Rom), been longlisted for the Berlin Writing Prize and shortlisted for the MSLEXIA Poetry Prize; her debut poetry collection DREAM HOUSES was published by Kelsay Books in 2019. She lives in Hamburg, Germany. Connect with her on Instagram: @tessa_sinclair_scott or https://linktr.ee/tessascott

Crista Siglin (she/they) moved to Berlin in 2017 after having grown up in the Midwestern United States. She studied Painting and Creative Writing at the Kansas City Art Institute. Her work varies in medium— oscillating between multiple visual forms as well as poetry. She explores the body and the mind’s relationship to environment, trauma, time, and phantasmagoria. Her variable works have been published in LIKEWISE MAGAZINE, KAWSMOUTH, BEAR REVIEW, BRIDGE, DOMICILIUM, FU REVIEW, PARATAXE, POETRY FOUNDATION's essay archive, and more. She has released two collections of poetry (Spartan Press and Vegetarian Alcoholic Press). She was poetry editor for SAND Journal Berlin from 2018 to 2023. Crista currently runs Poetry As__A Workshop, and is an organizer for the experimental event series AKIMBO.

LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT (FIRST HALF)

On March 9 at Berlin’s Lettrétage, we are putting on a celebration of the great Austrian author Friederike Mayröcker—"But existence, too, must be poetic": An Evening of Friederike Mayröcker. There will be an opening discussion about Mayröcker and her living legacy with the poet-translators Donna Stonecipher and Alexander Booth and the poet-critic Ryan Ruby. Find out more about them below.

You can see more about the event here.

Alexander Booth is a poet & translator who has lived in Berlin for the past decade after many years in Rome. The recipient of support from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture, the German Translators’ Fund, and PEN America, his work has appeared in publications such as A PUBLIC SPACE, ASYMPTOTE, BELOIT POETRY JOURNAL, CHICAGO REVIEW, MINOR LITERATURE[S], NEW ENGLAND REVIEW, and WORLD LITERATURE TODAY, among others. In addition to Friederike Mayröcker, his translations include works by Alexander Kluge, Sandro Penna, Gerhard Rühm, Lutz Seiler, and a new translation of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s TRACTATUS LOGICO-PHILOSOPHICUS.

Ryan Ruby is the author of THE ZERO AND THE ONE: A NOVEL (Twelve Books, 2017) and a book-length poem, CONTEXT COLLAPSE, out from Seven Stories Press in November 2024. For his reviews and essays, which have appeared in such venues as HARPER’S, THE NEW YORKER, and THE NEW YORK TIMES, he received the 2023 Silvers Prize in Literary Criticism. He lives in Berlin.

Donna Stonecipher is the author of six books of poetry, most recently THE RUINS OF NOSTALGIA (2023), which was named a best book of 2023 by NPR, and TRANSACTION HISTORIES (2018), which was listed by THE NEW YORK TIMES as one of the 10 best poetry books of 2018. She has also published one book of criticism, PROSE POETRY AND THE CITY (2018). Her poems have been published in many journals, including THE PARIS REVIEW, and have been translated into seven languages. She translates from German, and her translation of Austrian poet Friederike Mayröcker’s trilogy ÉTUDES, CAHIER, AND FLEURS, for which she received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, is being published by Seagull Books. She lives in Berlin.

CALL FOR PROSE POEMS, ETC.

On March 9 at Berlin’s Lettrétage, we are putting on a celebration of the great Austrian author Friederike Mayröcker—"But existence, too, must be poetic": An Evening of Friederike Mayröcker. There will be an opening discussion about Mayröcker and her living legacy with the poet-translators Donna Stonecipher and Alexander Booth and the poet-critic Ryan Ruby. For the second half of the evening, we’re currently selecting a series of writers (like you!) to read their work aloud. You can see more about the event here.

Submissions do not need to be directly influenced by Mayröcker—and should not be about her. What we want is for this evening to channel her spirit, the spirit of  “not just what’s written but existence, too, must be poetic.” Which means: We want your prose poems, your lyric essays and zarte Prosa, your language experiments, your sound-games your word-storms your shouts against death. Obviously, we also want your proems. We are open to submissions in English or in German, or indeed a third language of your choice. Originality is key, and so is excess. Too much of a good thing is, in this case, the good thing.

Email your submission of up to 700 words (prose) or 50 lines (poetry) – in any language – to josephrothtoday@gmail.com by February 18. All readings will also be published on this website and in a printed zine commemorating the evening.  You must be avaiable to read at Lettrétage in Berlin on March 9 at 8:30 PM.

To get inspired, you can read some of Mayröcker's poetry – with translations – online at lyrikline.de. Ryan Ruby's essay was published by Poetry magazine and the Paris Review ran an excerpt from The Communicating Vessels here.  Her books are available in German in all proper bookstores, and the English translations can be ordered online; some will be available for purchase on the night.