The Wing of a Kamikaze Moth
An evening with Ulrikka S. Gernes 

Reading
Talk
Poesiefestival Berlin 2026
Dänische Botschaft, Berlin
← / →

© Laerke Posselt

“Is the story of your life
already written in the dust on the wing
of a kamikaze moth,
which, drunk with happiness, in the very same second
in the flight of its union with the moon
plunges toward the water’s surface?”

Ulrikka S. Gernes (born 1965 in Ängelholm, Sweden) is a Danish writer and poet. She was born in Sweden to Danish parents and moved to Copenhagen at the age of 22, where she still lives today. She made her debut with the poetry collection Natsværmer (Moth) when she was only 18 years old. Ten further volumes followed; the most recent was published in 2012 under the title Flosset opus for strygere & blæsere (Frayed Work for Strings and Winds). A finished translation by her translator Hanns Grössel—who, among colleagues, had an almost legendary reputation for his translations of Inger Christensen and Nobel Prize laureate Tomas Tranströmer—exists of her book Kamikaze, originally published in 1999. In it, Gernes processes the aftermath of the slow death of a person close to her and transforms this experience into bold, striking images, for example when one of the poems ends: “Is the story of your life / already written in the dust on the wing / of a kamikaze moth, / which, drunk with happiness, in the very same second / in the flight of its union with the moon / plunges toward the water’s surface?”

Now, with Ein Mädchen verließ das Zimmer (Gutkind Verlag 2026; German translation: Ursel Allenstein), a novel by Ulrikka S. Gernes has been published for the first time and is causing an international sensation. Gernes’ prose reveals the temperament and linguistic sensitivity of a poet on every page. The book tells, in retrospect, the story of a gradual abuse within the left-wing alternative milieu of the 1980s. The narrator, then 14-year-old Tanja, becomes involved with a significantly older writer friend of her parents. What is striking is that this appears to happen with the family’s approval—under the guise of a libertarian sexual morality that presents itself as enlightened while simultaneously turning a blind eye to an obvious criminal act.

Ulrikka S. Gernes reads from her novel and is interviewed by literary critic Beate Tröger. She will also present some recent poems, specially translated for this event by Ursel Allenstein.

The event will be interpreted Danish-German.
Kindly supported by ECHOO Konferenzdolmetschen

The event is supported by the Programme for Danish Lecturers Abroad and takes place as part of a seminar for lecturers working in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Please register here:

https://mfa-events.dk/lesungmitulrikkagernes