Hana Stojić, Curator of the Common Ground Programme, invites you to discover a new side of Southeast Europe, a region that is oftentimes portrayed through the prism of negative and fear-inducing words and images and is rarely afforded the privilege to show its softer, more poetic side.
In 1980, already living in exile in Paris, Danilo Kiš lamented and fought in his essay, Homo Poeticus, Regardless, against the role many writers from this part of the world are pushed into – that of a mere homo politicus. He bristled at the thought of being condemned to a certain, narrow kind of literary expression and for him and his kin to be denied the freedom to praise the joy and wonder of a simple sunset or lose themselves in hazy reveries of love and passion.
But there is literature, and with it the opportunity to discover Southeast Europe in a new, more open, compassionate way. It is also a time for the region itself to reflect on what binds it together – regardless of all differences – and the indisputable common ground it shares, over borders and barriers, with the German-speaking world and beyond.
This year’s programme is an invitation to look closer. To discover. To connect.
We hope you will accept.
Welcome to our Common Ground.