



The Year of Return: Reading and Discussion with Ivana Akotowaa Ofori
It is 2019 and Ghana has proclaimed it the “Year of Return.” The 400th anniversary of the first deportation of African enslaved peoples to Virginia is to be commemorated with major celebrations. In Ivana Akotowaa Ofori's debut novel The Year of Return, journalist Adwapa decides to return from the USA to her native Ghana to find her roots. Ivana Akotowaa Ofori is a Ghanaian storyteller and spoken word artist. This year she is curating the African Book Festival Berlin. The Year of Return will be published in German by InterKontinental in July 2025 with the title Das Jahr der Rückkehr. The conversation will be moderated by Tina Adomako. Barbara Kemmler will read from the German translation. The event is a collaboration between the PTTS Chair, Afrikanische Perspektiven, e.V., Cactus Junges Theater, vhs-Münster, and Eine-Welt-Forum Münster. Further information here.
The reading and discussion will take place in English and German on July 21 at 19:00 in the VHS-Forum Münster. Admission is free.
The Book Studies team warmly invites to you to visit the exhibit "From Stories to Suffrage: Early Reading Experiences of 19th Century Women Activists in Britain," created as part of the MA BAPS Research Workshop.
The exhibit will run until the end of September.
We are delighted to share this brief excerpt from WDR Lokalzeit (broadcast in May 2025), which features a current BAPS student and a former BAPS student, who together have successfully initiated the Silent Reading Club Münster: https://www1.wdr.de/lokalzeit/fernsehen/muensterland/silent-book-club-in-muenster-100.html. More information can be found on the Silent Reading Club Münster’s Instagram page: @silentbookclub.ms. It’s great to see what BAPS students and alumni are doing out in the world! Congrats to Anna and Aline, and happy reading!
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published in 1925 - what does the word ‘great’ still mean in the USA today? A commentary by Prof. Silvia Schultermandl published in the university newspaper wissen|leben No. 3, 7 May 2025.
wissen|leben [DE]
15 May, 12:00, ES 203: Lucy Cheseldine
26 May, 18:00, Studiobühne: Diana Khoi Nguyen
5 June, 12:00, ES 203: Prof. Phil Nel
26 June, 12:00, ES 203: Anna Lena Oldehus
Please join us on June 27 from 9:00-15:00 in ES 203 for this year's Dissertation Workshop in Literary, Cultural, and Book Studies. The workshop is designed to be a platform across the different chairs in literary, cultural, and book studies during which a number of doctoral students affiliated with the English department will present either their dissertation projects as a whole or outlines/initial findings of a particular chapter they would like to receive feedback on. Each block will consist of a 20 minute presentation, followed by approximately 25 minutes for discussion.
For further information, please contact Dorit Neumann or Rita Maricocchi.
We are honored to be hosting poet Ariana Benson, whose debut collection, Black Pastoral—rooted in Black history, memory, and nature—won the 2022 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, among other honors. Please take a moment to read two of their poems, "Hotbeds in Norfolk, Virginia" and "Said the Tobacco to the Hand", for a taste of their style.
Ariana will join us virtually on June 19th at 18:00 and will read from their poetry collection, interspersed with a conversation on poetry, U.S. and transnational/transatlantic politics and memory, as well as ecology and land. This reading is part of the American Studies Annual Juneteenth Dialogues event series, co-hosted by Prof. Silvia Schultermandl and Gulsin Ciftci.
To register, please follow this link: https://uni-ms.zoom.us/meeting/register/J1UFReoFRJmM-ad544vsGg#/registration.
For My Negativity: Spoken Word Performance with Kagayi Ngobi
With his long poem “For my Negativity”, Ugandan author Kagayi Ngobi confronts the audience with a social system that restricts human rights and undermines democratic values. The production sheds light on the lack of prospects and oppression of young people and marginalized groups in Uganda and draws connections to current social tensions in Germany, such as the resurgence of queer and xenophobia. The actor Ismael Boerner will perform the text in German (director: Axel Brauch). After the performance, there will be a discussion with Kagayi Ngobi, moderated and translated by Annette Bühler-Dietrich. All interested listeners are warmly invited. The event will take place in German on June 17 at 19:00 in the Studiobühne. Admission is free.
Guest lecturer: Daniel Böhm, Fachleitung Sonderpädagogik Englisch, ZfsL Gelsenkirchen
A part of the lecture ”Selected Aspects of SLA/ELT” (Prof. Dr. Frauke Matz)
Room: JO 1
Wed. 21.05.2025, 16-18 ct.
Citizen-Science-Award
The English Department congratulates Yash Gupta and his team on winning the Citizen-Science-Award for their installation "Homes | Heimat: Postcolonialism, Narrative, Photography".
The project offers a creative and thoughtful exploration of how colonial legacies and migration continue to shape students’ sense of belonging.
Through personal stories, photographs, and a traveling exhibition, the team brings academic research and lived experience into meaningful dialogue, encouraging reflection on the entanglement of personal and colonial histories. This initiative is a valuable contribution to both postcolonial studies and public engagement.
More information [de] on the installation is available here (https://www.uni-muenster.de/Philologie/aktuelles/archiv/2025/citizen-science-preis_homes_heimat.html). The installation will be on shown again April 14-17 (Schloss). More information on viewing times and events here (https://www.uni-muenster.de/Kustodie/en/projekte2024/HOME.html).
Guest lecturer: Ulrich Speckenwirth, ZfsL Münster
A part of the lecture ”Selected Aspects of SLA/ELT” (Prof. Dr. Frauke Matz)
Room: JO 1
Wed. 14.05.2025, 16-18 ct.
Is there a Black German-language literary tradition and if so, what defines it? Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo, Philipp Khabo Koepsell, Katharina Oguntoye, and SchwarzRund will come together to reflect on these questions, each from their own unique perspectives. In alternating pairs, the authors will read from their respective works and discuss parallels and differences with regard to aspects such as theme, form, aesthetics, and identity.
The event will take place in German.
Admission is free. Further information here
Contact: rmaricocchi@uni-muenster.de
Join us as we commence the Münster run of 'Homes|Heimat,' with the opening lecture "Footloose Cultures: How Not to be at Home in One’s Heimat" by PD Dr. Pavan Malreddy (University of Potsdam). The event will take place on 14 April 2025 at 18:00, in Room S1, Schlossplatz 2, 48149 Münster.
After the lecture, we invite you to visit the installation at the Schloss Foyer, where light refreshments will be served.
More information is available at: uni.ms/homes-heimat
Eighth International Aldous Huxley Symposium at Florence, October 2025
Please send your proposals for papers
(20 minutes, plus 10 minutes discussion)
by 1 March 2025 to Prof Bernfried Nugel (nugel@uni-muenster.de).
Visit the Centre for Aldous Huxley Studies for more information on the symposium.
9 April 2025, 18:00 s.t., Zoom Registration required
This info session is about changes to our BA study programmes, in particular concerning the following modules:
Culture and Communication/Work Experience Abroad (new: Stay Abroad)
Readings (new: Surveys oder Varieties)
Linguistic Methods and Theories
Texts and Theories
Undergraduate Research Module I
EFL (new: ELE)
Foundations I
The link to access the Zoom conference will be send out to registered attendees one hour prior to the event.
Conference Language: English
Registration is closed.
Contact: lesd.25@uni-muenster.de
Organisers: Dr. Ricardo Römhild & Prof. Dr. Frauke Matz
Students are reminded that the LSF course registration portal will be open from 13 January to 31 January, 2025 for all higher semester courses. Please keep in mind that registration via LSF is mandatory and that you are required to provide at least three options for most classes.
Further information on course registration is available here.
There will be a separate registration period for M.Ed. students in March 2025. Remember that you need to be enrolled in your respective study programme for your course registration to be considered.
We are thrilled to announce that Yash Gupta has been awarded the 2024 DAAD Prize by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for his outstanding commitment to intercultural exchange and social engagement as well as his academic achievements.
Yash has been enrolled in our National and Transnational Studies Programme since 2022/23 and is known throughout the English Department as the founder of the Disability Studies Circle, a co-founder of the Anticolonial CineClub and in general as an unstoppable creative force striving to make the university a more inclusive and socially responsible place.
During the award ceremony on 27 November 2024, the university’s Vice Rector for International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Michael Quante, praised the high level of scholarly integrity and cultural competence Yash shows in his dedication to marginalized groups and topics.
Find the university’s original press release here [de]
If you are planning to apply for a spot at one of the English Department’s partner universities, please make sure to upload your application by 10 January 2025.
Further information is available on Learnweb: Study Abroad English Department.
Please make sure to request the relevant documents for your application with the examination office before the university closes for winter break to ensure you can meet the deadline.
Application Deadline: 10 January 2025