Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali diaspora

The second LIFELINES edition focuses on Nuruddin Farah, acclaimed as one of Africa’s greatest contemporary writers and regarded as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Together with Nuruddin Farah, LIFELINES explores his biographical and literary paths in an exchange with friends and fellow-writers past and present.

For decades, instability, anarchy, and civil war have been driving Somalis out of their homeland. Farah, himself an exile for 25 years, gives these refugees a voice. This staged reading from his eponymous collection of essays traces the Somali diaspora’s diverse paths and fates in a globalized world. The individual stories and subtle portraits of the countries of exile create a moving image of life between different worlds.

Actors: Araba Walton and Michael Ojake

Concept and Direction: Grada Kilomba, Amy Evans

In her work, playwright Amy Evans critically examines the impact of displacement, alienation and political violence on the human spirit. She is currently developing a new play based on the true story of Oury Jalloh’s death in custody in Dessau, Germany.
Grada Kilomba’s literary works resemble remembered stories – stories of slavery, colonialism and everyday racism. She is the author of “Plantation Memories” (2008) and is currently writing her second novel “Kalunga” about the African diaspora and Orishas.

In co-operation with Suhrkamp Verlag