In the big city, Tawada argues, the Moon fades among the many bright lights: “It is not shining, it is like a hole in the civilisation.” She also talks about poetry on the moon, which she feels is used too often as a metaphor: “I wanted to free the Moon. And so my Moon is riding the bicycle.”  Moreover, she feels that the night is the time for writing poetry, and consequently, the Moon becomes extremely significant to the poet.

Yoko Tawada (b. 1960) is a Japanese writer, who has lived in Germany since the age of 22 and writes in both Japanese and German. She has published several books – including short stories, novels, poems, plays and essays – and has received numerous awards for her writing, including the Akutagawa Prize, the Kleist Prize and the Goethe Medal. Among her novels are ‘The Naked Eye’ (2003, originally published in 1993), ‘The Bridegroom Was a Dog’ (1998), the widely acclaimed ‘Memoirs of a Polar Bear’ (2016) and ‘The Emissary’ (2018).

Yoko Tawada was interviewed by Kasper Bech Dyg at the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark in August 2018.

Camera: Anders Lindved & Rasmus Quistgaard

Produced and edited by: Kasper Bech Dyg

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2018

Supported by Nordea-fonden