Wanted: Writers who want to write about the Black experience in Germany

Top (from left to right) Sharon Dodua Otoo, Philipp Khabo Köpsel, Joshua Kwesi Aikins, Mirjam Nünning

Via Black German Cultural Society, NJ
Sharon Dodua Otoo is looking for Black authors who want to write about the Black experience in Germany. The project is called "Witnessed" and is a book series written in English by Black authors, who live or have lived in Germany. It is edited by Sharon Dodua Otoo.

On the website she writes: "The idea for the series came to me one day as I thought about how little people know about life in Germany as a Black person - or how dated this knowledge is.




Even within Germany, discourse around ethnicity and diversity goes something like this: "if the foreigners learn German, they will integrate then there will be no problems".

And yet, Black people have lived in Germany for over 300 years. Black Germans can be found in all fields from science to art, from education to sport, from music to entrepreneurship. Where there are problems, these rarely have to do with lack of proficiency in the German language.

It is also incredible how little voice Black people within Germany have, despite decades of activism, academic research, creative publications and performances.

So I thought - fine! If we don't find recognition within Germany, we surely can on an international stage.

The Witnessed book series aims to enable English-speaking readers to access literature by Black authors who live (or have lived) in Germany and are from (or residing in) English-speaking countries, which bear witness to the experience of being Black in Germany."

Witnessed will be launched in Autumn 2012. 

Black writers in Germany

Philipp Khabo Köpsell. Check out his blog "Die Akte James Knopf" . He also wrote the book "Die Akte James Knopf: Afrodeutsche Wort- und Streitkunst"


Joshua Kwesi Aikins


Mirjam Nünning