textOUR. Lyrical performances in German sign language and spoken language

At an exchange meeting, the two guests will work in tandem with Sara and Manuel to translate their texts from written language into sign language and vice versa. In the evening, all texts and their translations will be presented.

The four poets will also share their exchange experiences, discuss the writing of literary texts between different languages and modalities, and reflect together on the meaning and experience of collectivity and care in the deaf community, in the hearing or hearing-dominated world, and in the encounter between the two. The evening will be moderated by deaf performer, actor, and sign language artist Eyk Kauly.


The event is bilingual, with simultaneous interpretation from German sign language into spoken language and vice versa.


This project is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.


Sara Hauser studied philosophy and international literature in Tübingen and Stockholm and lives in Berlin as a poet and literary mediator. Her poems and spoken word texts have been published in Stoff aus Luft and the Jahrbuch der Lyrik, among others. Since 2019, Sara has been designing youth projects and poetic interventions for multilingual creative writing with a focus on Arabic and German. Sara is part of the poetry collective das ad hoc. Since 2024, she has been co-curating the textOUR reading series.


Manuel Irmey (they/them) lives in Berlin. Manuel writes poetry and spoken word, likes to mix languages (mostly English and German), has been a member of ad hoc for more than five years, and has been co-curating the textOUR reading series since this year. Texts have been published in parabolis virtualis 2, PS#7, Glitter (and others).

• Jon Savkin
  
• Alina Grevers
  
• Eyk Kauly