Shahrazad - Stories for life

This digital story was created by Ingrid during a workshop at Jåttå High School near Stavanger in February 2009.

Former ICORN Guest Writer Chenjerai Hove from Zimbabwe has recently received a stipend from the The Norwegian Non-fiction Writers And Translators Association (NFF). He is working on a memoir where he interconnects his own personal journey with the political developments in Zimbabwe since 1980.

The memoir is titled "In Search of My Homeland," and chronicles Gao's years in China from his first imprisonment in a labor camp in 1959, to his escape from China in 1991.

After summing up the first one and a half years of Shahrazad - stories for life, we have found that the six partner organisations have organized more than 250 activities and events throughout Europe, with the number of participants and audience reaching more than 22,000 persons.

Bjørnsonfestivalen was established in 1992, as the first literature festival of Norway. Today, Bjørnsonfestivalen is Norway's biggest international literature festival, and ICORN Writers Nada Yousif, Faraj Bayrakdar and Gilles Dossou-Gouin have been invited to a literary event hosted by the Norwegian Red Cross.

Shahrazad - Stories for life is on Facebook - and you can join the group to stay updated on events, publications, website updates and more.

"If the present European institutions cannot manage to inspire, charm, stir or touch the people, or if necessary anger them, then we shall have to do it. Europe is currently stumbling from one crisis to another, is floating somewhere high above the heads of its citizens, and at certain times suffers from arrogance and hypocrisy, at others from confusion and anxiety.

In this situation, we would like to reflect on who and what Europe might be. We wonder which past we should recall and of what future we can still dream. How proud we are, and how aorrowful we can still be."

This is the background for The European Constitution in Verse, as expressed by the artistic coordinators Peter Vermeersch and David van Reybrouck.  After failing to decide on a political constitution, Europe got its poetic Constitution in Verse on Friday 27 March 2009. The Brussels Poetry Collective - Geert van Istendael, Laurence Vielle, Manza, Xavier Queipo, Peter Vermeersch and David Van Reybrouck - who kicked off the project in January were joined by more than 40 other poets in writing the constitution. The Brussels collective, a number of leading poets such as Antonio Gamoneda (Spain), Franzobel (Austria), Gerrit Komrij (Netherlands) and Mircea Dinescu (Romania) and the 70-strong PolyFolies choir, and several guest writers presented a long poem in which European enthusiasm is tempered by a critical attitude, the grand gesture rubs up against poetic intimacy, and seriousness is rhymed with satire. Themes as the hospitality and borders of Europe were very eminently present in the text. On this evening the complete text of the European Constitution in Verse was presented in three publications: in Dutch, French and English.

Here we bring you the contributions to the Constitution that were authored by former and present ICORN Guest Writers. 

Reading and discussion with performance poet Irakli Kakabadze (Georgia/ USA) in the International Centre at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Chair: Olaug Øygarden (Shahrazad - stories for life)

Panel discussion in the International Centre at the Frankfurt Book Fair

With:
Christa Schuenke (PEN)
Helge Lunde (ICORN)
Sigrun Reckhaus (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, to be confirmed)

Panel discussion in the International Centre at the Frankfurt Book Fair

With:
Dirk Sager (PEN)
Zhou Qing (author, China)

Chair: Regine Möbius (author, Germany)

Panel discussion in the International Centre at the Frankfurt Book Fair

With:
Katajun Amirpur (journalist, Germany)
Amir Hassan Cheheltan (author, Iran)
Mahmud Doulatabadi (author, Iran)

German and/or Spanish speeking young people from 16 years onwards have the possibility to write, test and discuss their own texts in a workshop with Cuban writer Carlos A.

German and/or Spanish speeking young people from 16 years onwards have the possibility to write, test and discuss their own texts in a workshop with Cuban writer Carlos A.

German and/or Spanish speeking young people from 16 years onwards have the possibility to write, test and discuss their own texts in a workshop with Cuban writer Carlos A.

German and/or Spanish speeking young people from 16 years onwards have the possibility to write, test and discuss their own texts in a workshop with Cuban writer Carlos A.

Every month between July and January the public is invited to come to themed open days where they can create their own digital stories on a wide range of issues.

Digital storytelling allows you to create your own film using photos,
art, music or film footage. These monthly workshops offer you new

Digital storytelling allows you to create your own film using photos, art, music or film footage. These monthly workshops offer you new digital skills and a chance to develop your own film.

Digital storytelling allows you to create your own film using photos, art, music or film footage. These monthly workshops offer you new digital skills and a chance to develop your own film.