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Jehona Kicaj „ ë ” - Shortlist Deutscher Buchpreis 2025 -
Event by: Buchhändlerkeller
Location: Buchhändlerkeller, Alt-Lietzow 12, Berlin - Bezirk Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
About event
Reading and discussion, moderation: Axel Haase.
The unusual title “ë” stands for a letter that has an important function in the Albanian language, although it is usually not pronounced at all. As the child of refugees from Kosovo, the narrator is in search of language and voice. She grew up in Germany, went to kindergarten, school and university, looking for understanding, but repeatedly encountered attributions, cluelessness and ignorance.
When the Kosovo war raged at the end of the 90s, she experienced it from a safe distance. But war and death are also present in the diaspora - they are just experienced differently than on site.
The novel “ë” tells of the Kosovo war, which is hardly known in Germany, and reminds us of the suffering of families who lost their home, whose murdered relatives were buried anonymously and are still missing or unidentified to this day. A past that cannot go away because it is literally in every fiber of the body is brought to life by Jehona Kicaj in the truest sense.
Jehona Kicaj, born in Kosovo in 1991 and grew up in Göttingen, studied philosophy, German and modern German literature in Hanover. After scientific publications, she has also been publishing literary texts since 2020. She is co-editor of the anthology "And that's how you stayed forever. Guest workers and their children" (2023). The novel “ë” is her debut.
The unusual title “ë” stands for a letter that has an important function in the Albanian language, although it is usually not pronounced at all. As the child of refugees from Kosovo, the narrator is in search of language and voice. She grew up in Germany, went to kindergarten, school and university, looking for understanding, but repeatedly encountered attributions, cluelessness and ignorance.
When the Kosovo war raged at the end of the 90s, she experienced it from a safe distance. But war and death are also present in the diaspora - they are just experienced differently than on site.
The novel “ë” tells of the Kosovo war, which is hardly known in Germany, and reminds us of the suffering of families who lost their home, whose murdered relatives were buried anonymously and are still missing or unidentified to this day. A past that cannot go away because it is literally in every fiber of the body is brought to life by Jehona Kicaj in the truest sense.
Jehona Kicaj, born in Kosovo in 1991 and grew up in Göttingen, studied philosophy, German and modern German literature in Hanover. After scientific publications, she has also been publishing literary texts since 2020. She is co-editor of the anthology "And that's how you stayed forever. Guest workers and their children" (2023). The novel “ë” is her debut.