Lina Atfah (*1989 in Salamiyah, Syria) studied Arabic literature in Damascus. She has lived in Herne since 2014 after having to leave Syria for political reasons. Since 2017, she has been taking part in the „Weiter Schreiben“ („Write On“) project, in which she collaborated with her tandem partner Nino Haratischwili and other German authors and translators. In 2017, she received the „Hertha-Koenig-Förderpreis“ for young female writers, following a nomination by Nino Haratischwili. In 2019, Pendragon Verlag published her first bilingual volume of poetry in Germany, „Das Buch von der fehlenden Ankunft“, which was awarded the LiBeraturpreis 2020 for the best books translated into German. In 2023, she received the Ruhr Literature Prize for her second volume of poetry „Grabtuch aus Schmetterlingen“.

I was able to be in Schöppingen with my little family, my husband and our four-month-old twins. We met wonderful people and I was able to work on my project during the quiet summer days. It was a collection of texts formulated like messages to my psychotherapist. I was able to edit many texts and also write new ones.
Schöppingen: a secret paradise for the imagination, a forest of poems, summer rain for happiness and friendships and times that stay in the heart forever.