Akyn

Didar is a poet, but he cannot live from his poetry. He has to write early in the mornings before setting out for his day job as a newspaper editor. But the sense of crisis that pervades his life is not only linked to his economic situation. At work, pessimistic discussions are held about Kazakh’s dwindling significance, dying languages and the worldwide dominance of English. Everywhere people are staring at screens. The triumph of content, commercialisation and social media is unstoppable. In a world like this, is there anyone left who’s still interested in poetry? The audience at the reading in the provinces is certainly modest at best. Omirbayev has Didar read a book about Kazakh poet Makhambet Otemisuly, which allows him to connect the two figures and to lead us away from present-day Almaty for a while and into the early nineteenth century and the Kazakh steppe, where Otemisuly’s resistance against the authorities cost him his life. Even if his own life is not at risk, Didar must decide how he will retain his dignity. (Anna Hoffmann)