LiteraTour Nord: Sharon Dodua Otoo, So, in etwa, ist es geschehen

They’re on their way to Timmendorfer Strand: Amata Haller and her boss, Heinz Brockhaus, who offered to drive her there. Amata is in a hurry; her mother is waiting, as she does every year on May 3. This day marks the anniversary of the sinking of the “Cap Arcona,” that catastrophe toward the end of World War II that her grandfather barely survived. The heat weighs heavily on the crowded streets; the drive seems to go on forever; Brockhaus talks nonstop; and Amata loses her composure. By the end of the day, Brockhaus will be dead, and months later, Amata will stand trial. 

Sharon Dodua Otoo is a writer, editor of the English-language book series “Witnessed,” and curator of the Black literature festival “Resonanzen”. With the text “Herr Gröttrup Sets Down,” Otoo won the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 2016. In 2020, she delivered the Klagenfurt Lecture on Literature, “Are Black People Allowed to Paint Flowers?,” which was published by Heyn. Her first novel, “Adas Raum,” was shortlisted for the BücherFrauen “Christine” Literary Prize and translated into several languages. Further awards and fellowships followed; in 2025, she delivered the Zurich Poetry Lecture titled “Im Vertrauern.” 

Organizers: Institute of German Studies at the University of Osnabrück, Literature Office of West Lower Saxony, and Literature Office of West Lower Saxony

Location: Renaissance Hall at the Ledenhof, Am Ledenhof 3-5

Ticket sales: Altstädter Bücherstuben, Bierstraße 37, Tel. 0541 26391