A Literary Conversation Across the Black Diaspora

Paris-born, Berlin-raised writer Raphaëlle Red joins scholar Nadia Ellis for an evening of reading and conversation on Black diasporic experience, literature, and belonging. The event opens with a reading from Red’s work, followed by a wide-ranging conversation on writing, solidarity, and the ways Black diasporic lives are shaped across places, languages, and histories.

Raphaëlle Red is a Paris-born and Berlin-raised writer of fiction, essays and poetry. Her debut novel Adikou was published in 2024 in French and in German (trans. Patricia Klobusiczky). It was awarded the 2024 Prix Premiere and selected by DIE ZEIT as one of the “100 Best Books“ that year. In addition to existing publications in English-language magazines and poetry collections, Adikou will be available in English in Fall 2026 with Arboretum Books.
As a scholar, Red most recently conducted research and taught on contemporary cultural expressions of the African diaspora at the Freie Universität in Berlin.
Her next book, an essay titled SAFE SPACE: Finding Safety in Solidarity and Self-Determination, will be out with Seagull Books in Winter 2026.

Nadia Ellis ist AssociateProfessorin und Direktorin für Graduiertenstudiengänge am Fachbereich Englisch der UC Berkeley. Sie ist Autorin von (Duke, 2015) sowie von Artikeln und Essays über schwarze und karibische Literatur, Performance und Archive. Sie unterrichtet verschiedene Kurse und Seminare über moderne Literatur und Kultur der Schwarzen Diaspora.

Photos: Nadia Ellis/Adeline Rapon

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Goethe-Institut San Francisco, 657 Howard Street, San Francisco, United States

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