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Anna von Rath

diversity trainer, translator and editor of poco.lit.

Ciani-Sophia Höder
Wut und Böse

Different communities have reappropriated terms, so surely an emotion can be reclaimed. Anger is not necessarily something evil in itself. Rather, it can be an expression of people’s realization that something is evil – unjust social structures, for example.

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Jasmina Kuhnke
Schwarzes Herz

Schwarzes Herz is the first novel by anti-racism activist Jasmina Kuhnke, and it reads like a diary entry by the protagonist. The first-person perspective, which allows readers to experience the fictional world of the protagonist from her perspective, is a particularly valuable one in the context of racism and domestic violence: it’s the voice of an affected person and readers have to listen.

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Tabish Khair
The Thing About Thugs

A complex and frank story unfolds set in 1830s London, tracing a series of strange murders in which the victims are beheaded. Amir Ali from India becomes entangled in the happenings and explains his perspective of things.

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Of whale sharks and homemakers – for gender-sensitive translation

Anyone who wants to do a quick translation is probably happy to fall back on technological aids once in a while: Google Translate, Linguee or DeepL are widely known by now. But machine translation can prevent linguistic progress or the successful establishment of non-discriminatory language. Translation programmes draw from already existing texts – and these are far from being free of discrimination. That’s why we’re excited that our macht.sprache. project will be able to develop an integration with existing translation websites to support gender-sensitive translation with the help of the Prototype Fund.

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Aminata Touré
Wir können mehr sein: Die Macht der Vielfalt

Aminata Touré’s book is part autobiography and part political essay and it is intended to motivate other young people to consider a political career. In addition to her clear political positions, Touré is pleasantly approachable, emotional and creative – not least because her narrative text is peppered with numerous self-written poems about freedom and dreams, being Black and a woman.

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Sisonke Msimang
Always another country

In her autobiography, Sisonke Msimang portrays her life as strongly influenced by the South African ANC members in exile and the frequent moves of her family to different continents. In an extremely self-critical narrative voice, Msimang recounts the contradictions she had to – and also wanted to – learn to live with.

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Louise Erdrich
The Night Watchman

When I start reading very thick books – The Nightwatchman with its nearly 500 pages is one of those – I’m often skeptical whether such bulk is really necessary. But I simply devoured this book in two days.

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