Safiye Can
- Germany -
P.E.N member Safiye Can (pronounced like John), award-winning and best-selling Circassian poet from Offenbach, is a German citizen. Can studied philosophy, psychoanalysis and law at the Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main and is the recent recipient of two prestigious literary prizes (Else Lasker-Schüler Poetry prize and Alfred-Müller-Felsenburg Prize for Civil Courage in Literature). Can’s work examining the place of the individual in society reframes concepts of home and belonging. Safiye Can was featured at the 20th annual, week-long Leselenz, Germany’s largest non-urban literary festival in the Black Forest town of Hausach. Can was Flagstaff, Arizona’s guest in 2017 as invited honoree of GERMAN CAMPUS WEEKS at Northern Arizona University, funded by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of German, Washington, D.C. She writes concrete and visual poetry, longpoems and collages and short prose, as well as conducting writing workshops – Poets’ Club – (Dichter-Club) in schools throughout Germany and beyond. She is a board member and co-editor of the renowned German literary journal, die horen as well as curator of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Zwischenraum-Bibliothek. Ms. Can’s 2014 poetry debut, Rose und Nachtigall (Rose and Nightengale) remains such a bestseller in Germany that it went into its second edition within a matter of weeks and is now in its sixth – sold out – edition. A completely new gift edition featuring new illustrations is to be released in March 2020 and introduced for the first time at the world-famous Leipzig Book Convention.
Safiye Can: Poetry as Form, Voice and Encounter
Safiye Can is a German poet, writer, translator and visual poet whose work opens poetry beyond the printed line. Born in Offenbach am Main to Circassian parents from the Black Sea region of Turkey, she writes from a position shaped by language, migration, memory and artistic experimentation. Her poetry moves between intimacy and public engagement, between the lyrical and the visual, between the personal experience of belonging and the broader responsibility of literature in society.
One of the most distinctive aspects of Can’s work is her use of concrete and visual poetry. For her, a poem is not only something to be read, but also something to be seen and felt. Words become shapes; typography becomes part of meaning. In a poem such as “Der Garten” (“The Garden”), the arrangement of letters and lines invites the reader to enter the poem visually, as if the page itself were a space of growth. Can has said that her poems are not finished until they find their form — a statement that reveals how deeply she understands poetry as a union of language, image and body.
Can’s poetic practice is also marked by openness and accessibility. Her slogan, “Lest Gedichte!” — “Read Poems!” — reflects her belief that poetry should not remain distant, academic or old-fashioned. She sees poetry everywhere: in music, in hip-hop, in everyday speech, in the compact intensity of a single line. Her work invites readers, especially young people, to discover poetry as something alive and contemporary.
At the same time, Can’s poetry is rooted in serious questions of identity, family, love, home and artistic vocation. Her line, “Do not tell my uncle that I became a poet. He’ll start crying again,” captures with humour and tenderness the difficulty of choosing an artistic life, especially within families who worry about stability and survival. This tension between fragility and courage is central to her work.
Beyond writing, Can is deeply committed to literary education and civic engagement. She leads writing workshops for children and young people, founded the writing workshop Dichter-Club, works as a guest lecturer at universities and is active in literary, human rights and animal rights contexts. Her awards, including the Else-Lasker-Schüler Poetry Prize and the Alfred Müller-Felsenburg Prize for upright literature, recognise not only her poetic talent but also her moral and social commitment.
Safiye Can’s poetry is youthful, experimental and generous. It does not ask readers only to understand; it asks them to look, listen, feel and participate. Through her visual forms, her public readings and her belief in the living power of poems, she has become an important voice in contemporary German-language literature.
Poetry
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Der Ga rten / The Ga rden
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Möglicherweise ganz und gar / Quite possibly well and truly
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... / ...
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Vor der Welt / Away from the World
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Nicht da / Not there
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Der Fluch / The curse
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Ich wundere mich / I wonder
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Mirakel / Miracle
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Stell dir vor / Just imagine
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Aus dem Kind ist nichts geworden / Never made anything of herself
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Mein Element / My Element
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Breitengrad / Latitude
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Dornröschen, Liebchen / Sleeping Beauty, Dearie
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WG-Einkäufe / Housemate Shopping
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Dementi / Dementi
