Berber poetry and prose: In stone I'll write

A conversation on Berber culture. With Ayada Ghamhi, Mohamed el Hadaoui, Ahmed Ziani, Asis Aynan (host). In Dutch.

20080206143917

Information

Date and time Saturday 19 January 2008 20:00 tot 21:00 uur
Location Filmhuis - zaal 7

Why a Berber is not an Arab. And why not all Berbers speak Tamazight. On Berbers and Berber culture there is the necessary misunderstanding and ignorance in the Netherlands. At the same time Berbers here are increasingly aware of their own background and culture - see the fast growing number of Berber sites. At Winternachten three writers discuss Berber culture and their place in it. Ahmed Ziani (1954) is a pioneer in the struggle for recognition of the Berber language and culture. He lives in Morocco, after having lived in the Netherlands for many years and one of the first to write his poems in Tamazight. In stone I'll write and Song of Joy for the Bridegroom are two of his titles, both published in Tamazight and Dutch. Mohamed El Hadaoui (1973) writes in Tamazight, Arabic and Darija (Moroccan-Arabic). A quote by him: ‘He deposits a secret on his shoulders, keeps silent, remembers the pain of the streamn and melts.’ The prose writer Ayada Ghamhi (1980), who speaks Tamazight and Arabic, opens her story without further ado with: ’Aaaahhh… Whát the fuck’. Interviewer is writer and columnist Asis Aynan. In Dutch

Line-up

Ahmed Ziani

(Morocco, 1954 ) was born in the North Moroccan Reef. He emigrated to the Netherlands in 1979 to become one of the most well-known poets of the Moroccan community here and in Belgium. Ziani is a pioneer in the stuggle for recognition of Berber language and culture. In 1983 he published In steen zal ik schrijven, (In Stone I Shall Write), the first book of poetry to appear in Tamazight (with a Dutch translation). In 1997 it was followed by Jubelzang voor de bruidegom (Song of Joy for the Bridegroom). Migration and identity are important themes in his poems. Also he intertwines in his poetry the nature and the popular culture from his youth with the influences he underwent in the Netherlands. Ziani moved to Morocco in 2003, living in Nador. Soon the anthology Forgetting to Die will appear.
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Asis Aynan

(Haarlem, NL, 1980) studied philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. Aynan, the son of Moroccan immigrants, is an active advocate of Berber culture. His debut Veldslag en Andere Herinneringen (Battle and Other Memories) was published in 2007, about his youth or, as he calls it, his "Catholic-Islamic-Berber background". Aynan is the creator of the Berber Library, a series of classics from Berber countries translated into Dutch. He further wrote Ik, Driss  (I, Driss, together with Hassan Bahara), the short-story collection Gebed zonder eind (Endless Prayer, 2014) and Linoleumkoorts (Linoleum Fever, 2019). Aynan works as a teacher at Hogeschool van Amsterdam; his articles have appeared in the NRC, Het Parool, Folia and Trouw.
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Mohamed el Hadaoui

(Morocco, 1973) was born in Tizi Ousli, a small village at the foot of the Rif mountains. He writes his poems in Tamazight and Arabic, under the name Asemqar. His poems have been awarded twice with the El Hizjra literature prize.
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Ayada Ghamhi

(1980). Won the l-Hizjra Literature prize 2006 for prose in the category 26 years plus. She studies Human Resources Management at the Hogeschool Rotterdam. Ze speaks Berber and Arabic. She writes in Dutch.
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