The German passages will be read by the actrice Sara Hiruth Zewde.

"Migration is not only about poor, exploited people. It also includes people who leave to emacipate themselves, who leave in the name of liberty – and for a number of other reasons.“ Fatou Diome

The great Senegalese writer Fatou Diome will reflect upon flight and migration from her own, literary, and articulate perspective. She will read from her work and at the same time open a space for reflection and discussion. In light of current incidents and the catastrophic way the rising number of deaths in the mediterranean sea have been dealt with, she will discuss ways of understanding migration as freedom and emacipation, offer ideas of what this means for the discussion on the refugee question and how we can work together to make an emancipated and free mobility for all reality.

Fatou Diome is an author, activist and scientist. She was born on Niodior, a small island situated in front of the Senegalese coast, in 1968, and was initially raised by her grandmother. Before she started her studies in Dakar, she lived with three foster families in different cities. In 1990, she met a French working in Senegal and followed him to France four years later after their marriage, where she experienced various forms of everyday racism. After her divorce, she started to study literature, financing her studies through cleaning jobs.

After a collection of short stories and a novella, she published her first novel, „Le Ventre de l'Atlantique“, in 2003, a book which erned her internationally fame over night. It won the LiBeraturpreis, the Prix des Hémisphères Chantal Lapicque and the Jugendbuchpreis der Jury der jungen Leser. She has since published eight books, taught at the University of Strasbourg and the pedagogical college Karlsruhe, and presented the literary show “Nuit blanche” on France 3. In her works, she intensively deals with issues of migration, flight, and racism, as well as the relation between Senegal and France.

The event takes place as part of the project “Why We Are Here!? African Perspectives on Flight and Migration“ conducted by AfricAvenir e.V. in 2015/2016. In cooperation with ARU and Oplatz media Group.

With the friendly support of the Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (LEZ) and Engagement Global through means of the BMZ.

In case of rain the event will take place in the betahaus Berlin directly on Moritzplatz, Prinzessinnenstrasse 19-20, 10969 Berlin!