Slata Kozakova wins Literature Prize for Young Talents

Slata Kozakova, who is writing a Ph.D. thesis on Russian Literature here at the Graduate School, won second place in Literature Prizes for Young Talents of the Literaturstiftung Bayern, having framed her work on the City Culture Festival "kunst and gesund". The laureate's reading took place on April 17th 2018 in the "Deutsches Medizinhistorisches Museum" in Ingolstadt.

"Greifswald", "Neues Museum Berlin" and "Ordnergedicht" are the titles of her honored poems, most memorable for their collage-like features. The jury was impressed by her extraordinary access to language and, especially as a vibrant 26-year-old, her ability to profoundly articulate reality.

Within the theme of health, the title of the competition was "Poetry instead of Pills". When are we healthy? When ill? And how do we define both? Kozakova was drawn to the topic, "In many of my texts there is something morbid or hyper sensible. I think that illness as so-called exceptional situation is a very productive category for texts."

Kozakova, who has taken part in an impressive amount of writing workshops, has been publishing poetry and prose since 2016 under her maiden name Slata Roschal.