Jehona Kicaj "ë"

The unusual title "ë" refers to a letter that holds an important function in the Albanian language, though it is usually not pronounced. As a child of refugees from Kosovo, the narrator searches for language and voice. She grows up in Germany, attends kindergarten, school, and university, seeking understanding but repeatedly encountering stereotypes, ignorance, and indifference. When the Kosovo War erupts in the late 1990s, she experiences it from a safe distance. Yet even in the diaspora, war and death are present - only experienced differently than on the ground.

The novel "ë" tells of the Kosovo War, little known in Germany, and reminds readers of the suffering of families who lost their homeland, whose murdered relatives were buried anonymously and remain missing or unidentified to this day. A past that cannot pass away because it literally permeates every fiber of the body is brought to language by Jehona Kicaj in the most literal sense.

About the author:
Jehona Kicaj was born in 1991 in Kosovo and grew up in Göttingen. She studied philosophy, German studies, and modern German literature in Hanover. After academic publications, she has been publishing literary texts since 2020. She is co-editor of the anthology "'And so it remained forever'. Guest workers and their children" (2023). Her award-winning debut novel "ë" was shortlisted for the German Book Prize 2025.

The event takes place in cooperation with the Löhne City Library, vhs, and the Migration Office of the City of Löhne. Tickets are available online at www.reservix.de, at the box office on the day, and in advance at the Löhne City Library, vhs Löhne, and authorized ticket vendors.

The stated end time is approximate and may vary depending on the course of the reading and discussion.