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A white man stands in front of a green tiled wall wearing a black jacket. Next to the photo, the light blue book cover of the reading is superimposed, showing a person with a backpack from behind, accompanied by five cats.
© Christian Werner
A white man stands in front of a green tiled wall wearing a black jacket. Next to the photo, the light blue book cover of the reading is superimposed, showing a person with a backpack from behind, accompanied by five cats.
© Christian Werner

Diasporic Echoes im Avant-Garten

Reading: Dmitrij Kapitelman "Eine Formalie in Kiew" / Concert: Hakan Tuğrul & Tayfun Guttstadt

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Saturday

8/20/22

6:30 PM

At 18:30 (Reading in German) »Migration never really stops«, writes Kapitelman, »even twenty-five years later I'm still immigrating to Germany.« In »Eine Formalie in Kiew« (Hanser Verlag, 2021), from the perspective and with the bittersweet humour of a son who stoically tries to become German, he tells the story of two Ukrainian parents who once moved to a foreign country full of hope to start a new life and end up without any home­. Dmitrij Kapitelman's texts are perceptive, touching and with an »unerring sense of punchlines«. After his debut »Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters« (Hanser Verlag, 2016), »Eine Formalie in Kiew « is his second novel about cultural belonging and family. In it, 25 years after the Kapitelmans left Ukraine and came to Germany as so-called Jewish contingent refugees, the protagonist Dima wants to become a German citizen. The responsible clerk demands an apostille from Kiev, in this case the authentication of his birth certificate. So Kapitelman travels to the city of his birth, with which nothing connects him anymore, except childhood memories of his parents, who were still happy at the time - he has since fallen out with them. »With a light hand, full of irony and sarcasm«, in his distinctive sound, the award-winning author describes the feeling of alienation, the unfulfilled hopes and dreams of his parents and the path through the jungle of bureaucracy that, in the end, reunites him with his parents. »His novel is a 'pain-socialised', yet unashamedly tender declaration of love for a pair of parents who were not given the chance to feel at home in Germany« (Deutschlandfunk Kultur).

Dmitrij Kapitelman, born in Kiev in 1986, came to Germany with his family as a »contingent refugee« at the age of eight. He studied political science and sociology at the University of Leipzig and graduated from the German School of Journalism in Munich. Today he works as a freelance journalist. In 2016, his debut »Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters« was published, for which he won the Klaus-Michael Kühne Prize. For his second book, »Eine Formalie in Kiew« (2021), Kapitelman was awarded the Family Novel Book Prize of Stiftung Ravensburger Verlag. Kapitelman writes for the taz and DIE ZEIT, among others, and his reportages and essays often focus on questions of state and societal dealings with right-wing extremism, migration policy, and related fields of conflict.

At 20:30 Hamburg-based multi-instrumentalist Tayfun Guttstadt’s music combines hip hop and trap with classical vibes from the Middle East. He mixes traditional poetry with rap and jumps between familiar melodies and live improvisation. This evening he will share the stage with the Istanbul-born composer and santur musician Hakan Tuğrul.


A three-week series of events brings together diasporic voices at the Waldbühne with readings and concerts.

The war in Ukraine resulted in a wave of solidarity and an openness to welcome people fleeing from this war. Because we love this energy and want it for all those who have to leave their homeland, every Thursday to Saturday the Summer Festival, in cooperation with the ZEIT Foundation and NDR, presents authors and musicians and their stories about times of upheaval and displacement, of the search for belonging and empowerment, and of global political and family entanglements. Each evening begins with a reading, including a discussion with the authors and NDR journalists, and continues with acoustic concerts in a small setting (programmed by Anas Aboura und Alexei Volinchik).

Close-up of Dimitrij Kapitelman: he has short, dark blond hair and a three-day beard and wears a dark blue shirt over a black shirt. In the background, shiny greenish tiles.
© Christian Werner
Book cover of "Eine Formalie in Kiew": a drawing in blue tones of a man with a backpack walking through a street, buildings are indicated on the left. Several cats are lying and walking at his feet.
© Hanser Verlag
Hakan Tuğrul is standing with his instrument, the Satur, in a meadow with tall grass. He wears a yellowish shirt, a full beard and long hair tied at the nape of his neck and smiles cheerfully to the side.
© Joanna Furgal
Tayfun Guttstadt is sitting on an old television set with a small mixer and two elongated wind instruments, looking casually into the camera. He wears a dark cap, a green T-shirt and beige trousers.
© Tayfun Guttstadt

Dimitrij Kapitelman

Hakan Tuğrul

Tayfun Guttstadt


Reading: Dmitrij Kapitelman

Talk: Dmitrij Kapitelman, Jürgen Deppe (NDR Kultur, Moderation)

FUNDED BY ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius

IN COOPERATION with NDR Kultur