Kulturamt Langen

How do you speak, how do you tell or even put into literary form what is unspeakable? Ronya Othmann approaches the genocide of the Yazidis in her novel with the succinct title "74". The journalist and writer, whose father is a secular Yazidi from Syria and whose mother is German, traveled to the land of her forefathers many times in her youth. In 2014, she had to observe the 74th attempt to exterminate her people from a safe distance, according to the Yazidi count. In 2018, the intrepid observer traveled there again for the first time, together with her father, to Shingal in northern Iraq. Reportage, conversations and travelogues, but also essays and reflections on language, all flow into this poetic endeavor about the genocide against the Yazidis. A "milestone in literary genocide research" and "more significant" autobiographical writing "has not been seen in this country for a long time", critics praise the book.

Regina Heidecke talks to the writer, columnist and journalist Ronya Othmann.

Photo credit: Paula Winkler

16.11., 5 p.m.

Neue Stadthalle Langen, Südliche Ringstr. 77, Langen

2for1: 10 €

16.11., 16-16.30, box office