Die Zukunft ist schon anachronistisch – Jiddische Poesie

In the organizer's words:

Berlin is an important point of reference for Yiddish culture and the Berlin Yiddish scene is diverse and lively. On this evening, five Berlin artists will be guests who write, sing and perform in Yiddish: Yael Merlini (born 1968 in Italy) holds a doctorate in Semitic linguistics from the University of Florence and has been publishing poetry in Yiddish, Italian and English since the 1990s. Her poems were recently published in the anthology Yours, Yehuda / Dein, Yehuda (Königshausen & Neumann 2024). Jake Schneider (born 1988 in the USA) is a translator, former editor-in-chief of the English-language literary magazine SAND and author. He writes poetry in Yiddish and essays in English. His poems appear in magazines such as Afn Shvel and Yiddishland. Ella Ponizovsky Bergelson (born 1984 in Russia) is a visual artist working with cultural fluidity, including large-scale calligraphic murals of Yiddish poetry in public spaces, such as the project Present Figures (2021), dedicated to the Yiddish writer Debora Vogel. Accordionist Patrick Farrell and singer Sveta Kundish perform throughout Europe and are stars of the klezmer and new Yiddish music scene. Together they set Yiddish poets of the 20th and 21st centuries to music and released their first album together in 2022 under the title Nem mayn vort (Danzone).

The event will be held in English and Yiddish.

In reading & conversation: Yael Merlini | Jake Schneider
Music: Sveta Kundish & Patrick Farrell
Performance: Ella Ponizovsky Bergelson
Moderation & Curation: Jordan Lee Schnee