The Beauty of Difference: A Reading with Author Hadija Haruna-Oelker and Her Students

The Department of German Language and Literatures presents a free public reading in English by Hadija Haruna-Oelker, a prize-winning German author, journalist and lecturer, currently the 52nd Max Kade German Writer in Residence at Oberlin College. She is convinced that we all carry within us the perspectives of others, yet how can we learn to write about ourselves and others? In her book, The Beauty of Difference—think differently together, which was nominated for the prestigious Leipzig Bookfair prize in 2022, she tells her personal story interwoven with socio-political reflections about Germany as a migration society. Her writing envisions how we can unlearn what we have learned. Hadija Haruna-Oelker writes and speaks regularly about migration, race, racism, discrimination, and the intersection of human identities.