a month ago
Co Creator: 
21
1
Posted On: September 8th 2026, 09:10 am
Tagged Users:
BLUES IN BLACK AND WHITE
A Collection of Essays, Poetry, and Conversations
by May Ayim, translated and by Anne V. Adams
Next Nearby Reading Room session will take place on
October 3 at 12PM (CET) online.
The discussion will be held in English.
Send us an email on [email protected] if you would like to join us.
Blues in Black and White is May Ayim’s first collection of poetry. It was published in 1995 by Orlanda Frauenverlag. The book contains eight cycles of poems and is illustrated with Adinkra symbols from Ghana (in German book). The book has been translated into English and French. The English-language edition also includes essays and interviews by and with May Ayim. In the 2020s, the texts were adapted for the stage.
May Ayim (3 May 1960 – 9 August 1996) is the pen name of May Opitz (born Brigitte Sylvia Andler); she was an Afro-German poet, educator, and activist. The child of a German dancer and Ghanaian medical student, she lived with a white German foster family when young. After reconnecting with her father and his family in Ghana, in 1992 she took his surname for a pen name.
Opitz wrote a thesis at the University of Regensburg, “Afro-Deutsche: Ihre Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte auf dem Hintergrund gesellschaftlicher Veränderungen” (Afro-Germans: Their Cultural and Social History on the Background of Social Change), which was the first scholarly study of Afro-German history. It included accounts by many women of Afro-German descent. Ayim worked as an activist to unite Afro-Germans and combat racism in German society. She co-founded Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland [de] (Initiative of Black People in Germany) to that purpose in the late 1980s.
The nearby reading are supported and accompanied by:
Neseine is a researcher, an artist and an indigenous person engaged in an interdependent relationship with the world. S/he practices decolonial queerdom and produces texts as well as other artistic works. Born from the spirit of the time, s/he creates art of various complexity and searches for meaning.
Jon in ~<<
A Collection of Essays, Poetry, and Conversations
by May Ayim, translated and by Anne V. Adams
Next Nearby Reading Room session will take place on
October 3 at 12PM (CET) online.
The discussion will be held in English.
Send us an email on [email protected] if you would like to join us.
Blues in Black and White is May Ayim’s first collection of poetry. It was published in 1995 by Orlanda Frauenverlag. The book contains eight cycles of poems and is illustrated with Adinkra symbols from Ghana (in German book). The book has been translated into English and French. The English-language edition also includes essays and interviews by and with May Ayim. In the 2020s, the texts were adapted for the stage.
May Ayim (3 May 1960 – 9 August 1996) is the pen name of May Opitz (born Brigitte Sylvia Andler); she was an Afro-German poet, educator, and activist. The child of a German dancer and Ghanaian medical student, she lived with a white German foster family when young. After reconnecting with her father and his family in Ghana, in 1992 she took his surname for a pen name.
Opitz wrote a thesis at the University of Regensburg, “Afro-Deutsche: Ihre Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte auf dem Hintergrund gesellschaftlicher Veränderungen” (Afro-Germans: Their Cultural and Social History on the Background of Social Change), which was the first scholarly study of Afro-German history. It included accounts by many women of Afro-German descent. Ayim worked as an activist to unite Afro-Germans and combat racism in German society. She co-founded Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland [de] (Initiative of Black People in Germany) to that purpose in the late 1980s.
The nearby reading are supported and accompanied by:
Neseine is a researcher, an artist and an indigenous person engaged in an interdependent relationship with the world. S/he practices decolonial queerdom and produces texts as well as other artistic works. Born from the spirit of the time, s/he creates art of various complexity and searches for meaning.
Jon in ~<<
Comments (1)
More posts
