First Rain Poetry
Series: WitnessedEnglish
Paperback, ca. 176 pages
140 x 205mm
978-3-96042-212-9 / 2-112
ca. 17,80 Euro
Publication date: 10/2026
Series: Witnessed
English
Paperback, ca. 176 pages
140 x 205mm
978-3-96042-212-9 / 2-112
ca. 17,80 Euro
Publication date: 10/2026
English
Paperback, ca. 176 pages
140 x 205mm
978-3-96042-212-9 / 2-112
ca. 17,80 Euro
Publication date: 10/2026
Content
“First Rain Poetry” takes readers on a vivid journey, spanning the past, present and future. This collection of poems calls for a raw, considerate and honest self-dialogue and lovingly nudges the reader towards greater self-awareness.
Author & Series
Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo
— Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo is a Black intersectionally interwoven and interdisciplinary artist, author and poet, whose art and work reflect her social realities and identities. Lahya knows that the acts of embodying joy and telling the story in their own words is freedom work. It is a way to hold space and take space. Lahya’s pronouns are Lahya and if needed she/her. Lahyas bed currently resides in Berlin.
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Witnessed
— Witnessed is a book series published in a cooperation between edition assemblage and Sharon Dodua Otoo. It contributes English language testimonies to existing “Black in Germany” accounts (both fiction and non-fiction) while simultaneously providing access to this literature to international English-speaking audiences.
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Reading Sample / Cover
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Reviews (5)
Poetry is both thirst and water. Always. These poems are its comfort, a courageous act of defiance. A resistance that knows the wounds because it listens to itself. Those who read these verses come to know the hopeful silence of tenderness. In defiance of all silence.
—
José F.A. Oliver, Poet, Essayist and Translator, Curator of Hausacher Leselenz (Literaturfestival), Winner of the Heinrich Böll Prize
A gentle urgency runs through every line. In the poems of Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo, grief dances with hope, while pain and confidence reach out and hold each other’s hand. Perhaps we should all read more poetry—and listen much more attentively to the birds.
—
Dinçer Güçyeter, Author of "Unser Deutschlandmärchen" (Our German Fairy Tale), Winner of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize
Lahya’s poems are a source of inspiration and hope. They are honest, bold, vulnerable, courageous, resistant, radical, loving, painful, compassionate, nurturing and so much more. In these poems, Lahya grapples with centuries of violence and makes it clear that the world needs more softness to create a just future – a future shaped not by harshness and dominance, but by tenderness, solidarity and community.
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Jeannette Oholi, Ph.D. in Literary and Cultural Studies, Author of "Afropäische Ästhetiken. Plurale Schwarze Identitätsentwürfe in literarischen Texten des 21. Jahrhunderts" (Afropean Aesthetics: Plural Black Concepts of Identity in 21st-Century Literary
Poesie ist Durst und Wasser zugleich. Immer. Diese Gedichte sind ihr Trost, der mutig aufbegehrt. Ein Widerstand, der um die Wunden weiß, weil er sich selbst zuhört. Wer diese Verse liest, lernt die hoffnungsvolle Stille der Zärtlichkeit kennen. Wider jegliches Schweigen.
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José F.A. Oliver, Dichter, Essayist und Übersetzer, Festivalleiter des Hausacher Leselenzs, Heinrich-Böll-Preis
Lahyas Gedichte sind eine Quelle der Inspiration und Hoffnung. Sie sind ehrlich, kühn, verletzlich, mutig, widerständig, radikal, liebevoll, schmerzhaft, mitfühlend, fürsorglich und noch so viel mehr. In diesen Gedichten setzt sich Lahya mit jahrhundertelanger Gewalt auseinander und macht deutlich, dass die Welt mehr Sanftheit braucht, um eine gerechte Zukunft zu schaffen – eine Zukunft, die nicht von Härte und Dominanz geprägt ist, sondern von Zärtlichkeit, Solidarität und Gemeinschaft.
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Jeannette Oholi, promovierte Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaftlerin, Autorin von "Afropäische Ästhetiken. Plurale Schwarze Identitätsentwürfe in literarischen Texten des 21. Jahrhunderts"
