“Die Wortfinder”

The literary calendar “Der Wind bläst auch ins Glück” (the wind also brings happiness) for the year 2024 contains texts and images created by people with cognitive impairments. The contents focus on the topic “Rollercoaster of emotions & a carousel of thoughts (the monkey mind).” From philosophical observations, to the pros and cons of longing, experimental plays on words between dream and reality, jealousy rap all the way to poetic verses on the hope-inspiring little bird Neffoh, there’s a little bit of everything. The new calendar explains what synapses are good for, what food for thought is and presents different models of a carousel of thoughts (a.k.a. the monkey mind). The calendar can now be purchased from the “Die Wortfinder” (The Word Finders) association.

The “Heraus mit den Sprachen” (Bring out the languages) book publication in May 2022 is the result of an inclusive art and literary project carried out between 2019 and 2021. The project involved around 700 people with a wide range of speaking and writing abilities. Sketches and paintings by ten artists who are not capable of writing and have limited speech capacities served the authors as inspiration for their texts. To conclude the project, a book presentation was held at the Bielefeld Public Library. At the event, texts from the book that were written to complement the selected pictures were read to the audience and the authors were honoured. The book publication concludes a project spanning 3 years that was financially supported by Hörmann.

The “Kunter Gunt” literary calendar for 2023 contains content from around 170 previously unpublished texts written by people with intellectual disabilities or learning impairment. The result is a motley mix of texts and images that will give you something to think about and that are astonishing yet funny all at the same time. A wide variety of themes, from war and peace, to fairytales, to defining romance with the aid of a bathtub, can be found in the new calendar. During reading, you get to experience the dreams and wishes of the writers and learn about living with disability through the biographical notes. Each calendar week you can look forward to a new page full of imaginative ideas and creative content.

An encyclopaedia in four volumes written and illustrated by people with intellectual disabilities with questions & answers on topics such as “Death & Dying”, “Disability & Society”, “Love and Other Feelings” or “Earth & Universe”.

For many years, “Die Wortfinder” (The Wordfinders) has organised literary competitions for people with so-called mental disabilities. Once a year, a calendar is created from hundreds of submissions. The title for 2022: “Morgen blüht die Rose schon” (The rose is blooming tomorrow).

An inclusive art and literature project planned for the period between 2019 and 2022. The project involves more than 1000 people with a wide range of speaking and writing abilities.

Die Wortfinder (The Wordfinders) continued their work even during the pandemic. Despite the pandemic and the extremely difficult conditions, a total of about 1000 people with different disabilities participated in the projects of Die Wortfinder (The Wordfinders) in 2020. The participants come from Germany, Austria and Switzerland and range in age from 8 to 98. In the literary competition on the theme of “Light & Shadow, Light & Dark, Day & Night” as well as in the project “Heraus mit den Sprachen!” (Bring out the languages!), a total of more than 2000 texts were written. In September 2020, the literary calendar “Mein Schatten springen vor Freude” (My shadow is jumping with joy) was published. The literary competition of Die Wortfinder (The Wordfinders) was also very well received in 2021. The texts of the award winners will be published in the 2022 literary calendar under the title “Morgen blüht die Rose schon” (The rose is blooming tomorrow).

This is a small insight into the work of Die Wortfinder (The Wordfinders) during the pandemic.