far, recipients of the Mercator-Professur have been: 1997: Hans-Dietrich Genscher, politician (FDP), former Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor of Germany 1998: Siegfried Lenz, writer 1999: Jan Philipp Reemtsma, literary scholar. 2000: Jutta Limbach, jurist and politician (SPD) 2001: Volker Schlöndorff, filmmaker. 2002: Ulrich Wickert, journalist, chief anchor for tagesthemen 2003: Daniel Goeudevert French writer, management consultant. 2004: Walter Kempowski, writer. 2005: Richard von Weizsäcker, politician (CDU), former President of the Federal Republic of Germany. 2006: Necla Kelek, social scientist 2007: Hanan Ashrawi, legislator, activist, and scholar 2008: Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009: Peter Scholl-Latour, journalist and publicist 2010: Alice Schwarzer, publisher and feminist 2011: Udo Di Fabio, former judge of the Federal Constitutional Court 2012: Wolfgang Huber, Bishop, former Chairman of the Council of the EKD 2013: Margarethe von Trotta, film director. 2015: Götz Werner, founder of dm-drogerie markt 2016: Karl Lehmann, Cardinal prelate, former Chairman of the Conference of the German Bishops Further professors include Jette Joop, Kai Krause and Bruce Ames. Poets in Residence The institution of the poet in residence is not missing at any university in the USA. In Germany, the University of Duisburg-Essen was the first and, for a long time, only university that followed the American example and brought contemporary authors to the university as guest lecturers for readings and seminars. In 1975, Martin Walser was the first poet in residence to hold his poetics lectures in Essen. Since the summer semester 2000, the following personalities have worked as poet in residence at the University of Essen (later Duisburg-Essen): Ss 2000: Emine Sevgi Özdamar Ws 2000/01: Kirsten Boie Ss 2001: Volker Braun Ws 2001/02: Robert Gernhardt Ss 2002: Mike Nicol Ss 2003: Friedrich Christian Delius Ws 2003/04: Brigitte Burmeister Ss 2004: Georg Klein Ws 2004/05: Andreas Steinhöfel Ss 2005: Yōko Tawada Ws 2005/06: Dagmar Leupold Ss 2006: Friedrich Ani Ws 2006/07: Hans-Ulrich Treichel Ss 2007: Terézia Mora Ws 2007/08: Zafer Şenocak Ss 2008: Jürgen Lodemann Ws 2009/10: Klaus Händl Ws 2010/11: Judith Kuckart Ss 2011: Norbert Hummelt Ws 2011/12: Norbert Scheuer Ss 2012: Guy Helminger Ws 2012/13: Reinhard Jirgl Ss 2013: Antje Rávic Strubel Ws 2013/14: Bernhard Jaumann Ws 2014/15: Kathrin Röggla Ss 2015: Marion Poschmann Ws 2016/16: Klaus Modick Ss 2016: Lukas Bärfuss Ws 2016/17: Dorothee Elmiger, Reto Hänny Ss 2017: Christof Hamann Earlier poets in residence (since the winter semester 1975/76) include Jurek Becker, Wilhelm