Weiter Schreiben has firmly taken root in Ticino

For the past two years, Weiter Schreiben – the literary platform for writers in exile – has also been active in Italian-speaking Switzerland under the name Scrivere Ancora Svizzera. On 23 May, the project held its first public event at the Casa della Letteratura in Lugano.  

During the evening, Asiye Tekin gave a powerful account of her work on a literary reportage documenting the bombing of the Kurdish city of Cizre in Turkey – a project that placed her own safety at risk. The Turkish government has systemically sought to silence witnesses to the violence inflicted by its military on the Kurdish population. Facing the threat of imprisonment because of her reporting, Asiye was ultimately forced to flee Turkey.

WRITING AS AN ACT OF REMEMBRANCE

Now based in Ticino, Asiye continues to write against the erasure of Kurdish stories from the nation’s collective memory. She is particularly interested in the experiences of women, whose suffering and perspectives are too often overlooked in accounts of war.

Together with her project partner in Scrivere Ancora Svizzera, the Ticino-based writer and journalist Sara Rossi Giudicelli, she is currently working on a manuscript that brings together the reportages she wrote on the attacks on Cizre. In Lugano, Sara described their collaborative process of transforming these texts into a work that resonates with readers beyond Turkey.  

The event at the Casa della Letteratura drew a full audience that Saturday, with several regional media outlets covering the occasion. The strong public interest once again demonstrated the importance of creating visibility for artistic voices that too often go unheard in Switzerland. With this event, Weiter Schreiben Schweiz has firmly established its presence in Ticino and is now rooted in all three of Switzerland’s major linguistic regions. 

➜ Learn more about Weiter Schreiben Schweiz