About

Ramy Al-Asheq is a poet,  journalist and curator based in Berlin

He published five poetry collections in Arabic. Many of his texts have been published in anthologies and literary magazines in Bosnian, English, French, German, Kurdish and Spanish. Some of his texts were translated into songs, performances and works of art.

Literature

In 2014, Al-Asheq published his first book Walking on Dreams (سيرًا على الأحلام), a collection of poems about the Syrian revolution. He has read his poetry at various cultural and literary venues, and has participated in the Leipzig Book Fair 2016 and 2017, the “Arabic Literature Days” in Zurich 2016, the Ruhr Book Fair 2016, Literature House in Munich 2017, the festival “Literature from Syria” in Cologne 2017, Berlin Poetry Festival 2017, Literature Festival Munich and Berlin Poetry Festival 2018.

In February 2015, he was awarded a prize for young authors from Al-Qattan Foundation (Ramallah) for his collection of poetry In My Travel Outfit (لابس تياب السفر).

In 2016, Al-Asheq published Ever Since I Didn’t Die (مذ لم أمت), a collection of prose texts written between 2014 and 2016. Some of these texts have been translated into German, Kurdish, English, and Bosnian. In November 2016, Al-Asheq contributed a prose text to the anthology Weg sein – hier sein, which showcases 19 Syrian, Iranian and Yemeni writers who are living in exile in Germany.

In 2018, Al-Asheq published his work in English and German in the art book GREY IS THE NEW PINK, which is a book about the art exhibition GREY IS THE NEW PINK at the Museum of World Cultures in Frankfurt.

In 2018, he contributed texts to the anthologies Das Herz verlässt keinen Ort, an dem es hängt, Wir Sind Hier and La Valeur décimale du bonheur

In 2018, he Published his book No One Noticed When You Died (لم ينتبه أحد لموتك), a collection of poems written between 2014 and 2016. Some of these poems have been translated into German and English.

In 2019, he Published his Book Dogs Of Memory (Gedächtnishunde), a collection of poems translated into German by Lilian Pithan.

In 2021, his first English book (My Heart Became a Bomb) was published with The University of Texas, a collection of poems translated by Levi Thompson.

Later at the same year, his first Polish book As They Write On Our Face (jak to wypisuja na naszych twarzach) was published with Papierwdole, translated by Filip Kaźmierczak.

His second English book (Ever Since I did Not Die) translated by Isis Nusair and edited by Levi Thompson was published with Seagull books.

Bibliography

Awards and Grants

Journalism

In December 2015, Al-Asheq and New German Media launched Abwab, the first Arabic newspaper in Germany. Al-Asheq was its editor in chief for two years. He has taken part in various conferences on integration, refugees, xenophobia, and journalism which were organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, taz, New York University (Italy) and Humanity in Action.

From September 2014 to June 2016, Al-Asheq was the cultural editor of Rising for Freedom, a Syrian print and online magazine. He has also published several articles in German newspapers, among them taz, fluter, and Kölner Stadtrevue.

Exhibitions

Performance

Al-Asheq’s texts were presented on stage in different languages both as theater plays or poetry performances. In addition, Al-Asheq wrote a theater play called “Eesh!” Arabic for “Live!” in 2018.