© Privat
Moderator and Translator
Ekkehard (Ekke) Maaß, born in 1951, studied theology and philosophy and was known in the GDR as a singer of Okudshava songs. Following Wolf Biermann’s expatriation, he organized readings for young poets in his apartment—a contribution to fostering a generation of artists who, ten years before the end of the GDR, broke away from socialist ideology and became known as the poets’ and painters’ scene of Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg. His private literary salon in Prenzlauer Berg, which has existed from 1977 to the present day, is one of the longest-lasting and most influential phenomena of this (sub)cultural Berlin tradition. In 2017, Peter Böthig published the documentary volume “sprachzeiten – Der literarische Salon von Ekke Maaß” (language times – The Literary Salon of Ekke Maaß) on the subject through Lukas Verlag Berlin. After 1990, Maaß published numerous literary and political texts and translations and continues to appear today as a singer and reciter. In 1996, he founded the German-Caucasian Society in response to Russian war crimes during the First Chechen War. As a cultural mediator to Eastern European states and cultures, particularly in the Caucasus, he is tirelessly active both as a lecturer and as a traveler.
Events
Schatten eines Blitzes: Poems from Chechnya
Tue, 7. Jul // 16:00,
Maschinenhaus (Kulturbrauerei) entrance: Knaackstraße 97, 10435 Berlin
