Erzähl mir von mir

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine and its effects on the people on the ground and in neighbouring countries are a focal point in the artistic programme of asphalt 2023. The closing event of this year’s festival edition is also dedicated to this topic. “Tell me about myself” is a summit meeting of important voices from Ukraine and Germany, in which prominent authors from both countries will engage in dialogue with each other.

The poet, writer and essayist Serhij Zhadan, who received the 2022 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize winner Tanya Maljartschuk, the author and translator Yuri Durkot, who was awarded the 2018 Leipzig Book Fair Prize, the translator Beatrix Kersten, who recently translated a major Selenskyi biography into German, the writer and doctor Iryna Fingerova and the “ZEIT Online” journalist and award-winning reporter Steffen Dobbert will discuss Ukrainian-German relations and how they have developed since the invasion began on 24. February 2022.

More than a million people have fled to Germany since the Russian invasion began. Ukrainian immigrants who have lived here for a long time meet newcomers. There are controversial discussions about arms deliveries, humanitarian aid and the future support of the Ukrainian state. How can Ukrainians find their place in Germany and especially in the EU? How can Germany better understand Ukraine? What will the future bring?
The evening will be led by the musician, DJ and author Yuriy Gurzhy. In between the discussions, he will play music tracks that were created after the invasion began and which he compiled into a playlist together with the guests. The Ukrainian publicist Oksana Shchur has curated the event together with Yuriy Gurzhy.

The authors

Serhij Zhadan, born in 1974 in Starobilsk in Ukraine, is a poet, writer, essayist and translator living in Kharkiv. In 2022, he was awarded the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the Freedom Prize of the Frank Schirrmacher Foundation in Germany. Zhadan is also active as a singer and songwriter. His band Zhadan and Sobaky has participated in many music and literature festivals in Ukraine and around the world. In 2021, together with Yuriy Gurzhy, he recorded the album “Fokstroty”, based on the poems of Ukrainian authors who lived in Kharkiv 100 years ago. His most recent book published in Germany is “Himmel über Kharkiw. Nachrichten vom Überleben im Krieg” (2022, Suhrkamp).

Tanya Maljarchuk, born in 1983 in Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine, first worked as a journalist in Kyiv after studying philology. Her most recent publications in German are the novel “Blauwal der Erinnerung” (2019) and the collection of essays “Gleich geht die Geschichte weiter, wir atmen nur aus” (2022, both Kiepenheuer & Witsch). In 2018 Tanja Maljartschuk received the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, in 2022 the Usedom Literature Prize. She regularly writes columns for ZEIT Online and Deutsche Welle Ukraine, among others, and has lived in Vienna since 2011.

Juri Durkot, born in 1965 in Lviv, studied German at the universities of Lviv and Vienna. He currently lives in Lviv as an author and translator. For the translation of the novel “Internat” by Serhij Zhadan, he was awarded the Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair together with translator Sabine Stöhr in 2018. In 2022, ” Himmel über Kharkiv” by Serhij Zhadan was published in the translation by Durkot and Stöhr. Since 24 February 2022, the WELT has published Yuri Durkot’s war diary.

Beatrix Kersten has worked as a freelance lyricist and translator for many years. She has translated poems, song lyrics and prose by Ukrainian authors for literature festivals, magazines and anthologies in Germany and abroad. Her most recent translations include Serhij Rudenko’s political biography “Selenskyj” (2022, Hanser), as well as Ukrainian avant-garde poetry from the First World War (“Ein Hauch von Grauen und verborgene Hoffnung”, 2023, Arco) and the historical novel “Das Zeitalter der roten Ameisen” by Tanya Pyankova (2022, Ecco). Kersten lives and works in Amsterdam and in France.

Iryna Fingerova, born in Odessa, Ukraine, is a writer, essayist and doctor. She has lived in Dresden since 2018. In Ukraine, she published two short story collections, the novels “Placebo” (2018) and “Zamki” (2020) and the children’s book “Drink Water” (2022). Since the start of the invasion, she has written several essays about Ukrainian refugees in Germany and how she volunteers as a doctor to provide medical and psychological support. Her texts have been published in several German-language magazines.

Steffen Dobbert, born in Wismar in 1982, lived in Odessa and Kyiv as a scholarship holder of the International Journalism Programme (IJP). The journalist, who has been part of the ZEIT Online editorial team since 2014, specialises in the topics of Ukraine, the EU, Russia and Eastern Europe. More than 50 research trips have taken him to various parts of Ukraine. In 2014 his reportage volume “Euromaidan: Protest und Zivilcourage in der Ukraine” was published, in 2020 “Heimatsuche: In 80 Tagen durch Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” and 2022 “Ukraine verstehen: Geschichte, Politik und Freiheitskampf” (History, Politics and the Struggle for Freedom). In 2017, Dobbert received the German Reporter Award.

Music and production

Yuriy Gurzhy, born in Kharkiv, came to Potsdam with his family at the age of 20 and now lives in Berlin. The well-known musician, DJ, producer and radio presenter founded the legendary party series “Russendisko” together with the writer Vladimir Kaminer. Gurzhy curated ten compilations on various European record labels, including “Russendisko Hits”, “Shtetl Superstars” and “Borsh Division – Future Sound of Ukraine”. His latest productions include “Misto 2Go – New Donbass Symphony” (2021), “Fokstroty” (with Serhiy Zhadan, 2021) and “Ukrainian Songs of Love and Hate” (with Irena Karpa, Lyuba Yakimchuk and Grigory Semenchuk, 2022). In his first book, “Richard Wagner & The Klezmer Band” (2022), he embarks on a search for the current Jewish sound of Germany.

Oksana Shchur is a Ukrainian curator, literary critic and publicist. She has lived in Berlin since 2022. From 2016 to 2022, she was the curator of the International Book Arsenal Festival in Kyiv, the most important literary event in Ukraine, where she was responsible for the international projects and the main programme. Before that, she worked as editor-in-chief at Komora and Osnovy Publishing. She is curator and producer of ” Fokstroty” (2021), “Ukrainian Songs of Love and Hate” (2022) and co-editor of the anthology ” Stimmen gegen Krieg” (Austria-Ukraine, 2022). Shchur is the author of numerous literary reviews, columns and interviews for Ukrainian media such as Ukrainska Pravda, Ukrainskyi Tyzhden, LB.ua, Chytomo and Gender in Details.

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The press says:

“The musicians play with splendid subtlety. Siebenhaar’s multitasking is fabulous, Wienstroer’s bass sounds like your best friend who is there when you need him. And Baumgärtner elicits from his drums not only a marvellous sound, but even an aroma.” (Rheinische Post)