Politics and poetry in a day for Goethe-Institut Singapore director

Who: Dr Asma Diakite, 43, has been the director of Goethe-Institut Singapore since November 2024.

- Shawn Hoo

She previously directed the cultural department of Goethe-Institut South Africa and coordinated the regional cultural programmes of Goethe-Institutes in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Her organisation is presenting the 28th edition of the German Film Festival, which takes place from Oct 23 to Nov 9. The full lineup, which includes Andres Veiel’s documentary Riefenstahl (2024), will be revealed at str.sg/HT5Y

“For me, reading isn’t so much about ‘finding’ time as it is about ‘shaping’ time, so that life and thought can stay in dialogue.

As a child, I loved stories of rebellious female characters - Ronja Raubertochter or Die Kleine Hexe (The Little Witch) - figures who dared to break rules and carve their own paths.

Later, there was a phase that proved especially crucial for my own identity as a German of colour — discovering the literature of the Black Consciousness movement. The writings of poet May Ayim, the autobiography of human rights activist Malcolm X and even the poetry of rapper Tupac Shakur gave me a language to grapple with who I am and where I belong.

Around that time, I also found poet-novelist Hermann Hesse, whose explorations of self-discovery and the search for authenticity felt like a companion on that journey.