Alida Bremer (born 1959 in Split, Croatia) studied Literature in Belgrade, Rome, Münster and earned her PhD in Comparative Literature in Saarbrücken. Since 1986 she has lived in Münster and has been writing in German since 1993. She has published stories, poems and essays in German that have appeared in Albanian, English, Macedonian, Romanian, Dutch and Croatian. Her debut novel “Oliva’s garden” appeared in 2013 by Eichborn Verlag (paperback in 2017 by Ullstein Verlag, translations in Croatian and Macedonian), and she was awarded the Robert Bosch Stipendium for this work. The unpublished manuscript of the novel “Scenes & dreams” has been nominated for the Alfred Döblin Prize 2017; the novel will be published in 2021 by Jung und Jung. In 2019 she was Poet in Residence at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Bremer has translated novels, theatre pieces, poetry collections and essays by Croatian and Serbian authors into German. In 2018 she was awarded the International Literature Prize of the House of World Cultures for her translation of the novel “Liebesroman” by Ivana Sajko, the Brücke Berlin Theatre Prize for her translation of the play “Daumenregeln” by Iva Brdar, and the German Youth Theatre Prize for her translation of the play “Der (vorletzte) Panda oder Die Statik” by Dino Pešut. 2020 she was awarded the Barthold Heinrich Brockes Scholarship, which is considered a distinction for previous translational work. With KulturKontakt Austria she published the ten-part series Kroatische Literature der Gegenwart (Contemporary Croatian Literature). She was co-editor of the anthology Konzert for das Eis, Gedichte as Kroatien (Concert for the Ice, Poems from Croatia, 2010) and Glückliche Wirkungen. Eine literarische Reise in bessere Welten (Prosperous Impacts. A Literary Journey into the better worlds 2017). Together with Serbian writer Saša Ilić she set up Beton International, Zeitung for Literature und Gesellschaft in 2014. Bremer has been involved as a curator with numerous international literature festivals and other literary projects, and is a member of VdÜ (Verband deutschsprachiger Übersetzer literarischer und wissenschaftlicher Werke e.V.), Literaturverein Münster, PEN Croatia and PEN Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Mapping Mediterranean Ambiences
With this international project, with the involvement of artists, writers and scholars from other Mediterranean and European countries our project wants to “reconquer” culturally and historically significant places on the Mediterranean which are increasingly used and perceived almost exclusively for tourism. We imagine that with this “cultural resistance” we can draw attention to the gentrification and commercialisation of these places and counteract these developments. We also want to present the results of our encounters to a wider international audience. Despite all its beauty the Mediterranean is currently in crisis and this crisis affects not only its inhabitants, but also all Europeans and the whole world. This crisis in the Mediterranean has political, economic, religious, ecological and cultural aspects. Many people around the Mediterranean write and reflect on the current situation in this historic region. With this project, we want to introduce them and facilitate their dialogue. The Mediterranean, once the “cradle of European culture“ is today a problematic, almost neuralgic region. Fences are being erected at the interfaces of the three continents. On the southern and eastern coasts there are demographic and climatic problems, wars and poverty, on the northern coasts there are often mafias, corruption, disorganization, environmental problems and commercial exploitation of resources caused by the tourist monoculture. The dream of Arcadia is all too beautiful, deeply rooted in the “Grand Tour” cultures of the Northern Europe. The cruise ships, however, for which cheap labour is hired in the once famous Mediterranean ports, now cross the paths of the rubber boats with refugees. Around them the unbelievably beautiful sea rushes, along whose coasts lie landscapes with great history. We want to invite the European public to reflect on this situation on the ground. We want to reflect together artistically and intellectually on the outstanding cultural, geographical and historical features of the Mediterranean without closing our eyes to the problems of this region.