Most recent articles by Volker Kaminski
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Book review: Amir Hassan Cheheltanʹs "Der standhafte Papagei"History of a revolution
Amir Hassan Cheheltan has spent years publishing articles and novels in German. His latest book "The Steadfast Parrot" has also been published first in German. Though the author himself lives in Tehran, the question remains as to whether it can be released in Iran. By Volker Kaminski
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Book review: Cecile Oumhaniʹs "Tunisian Yankee"Life is elsewhere
In her award-winning historical novel, French author Cecile Oumhani depicts the life story of a young Tunisian, who dreams of airship travel and a free and autonomous life, until his odyssey takes him via New York to the battlefields of the First World War. By Volker Kaminski
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Book review: Fariba Vafi′s "Der Traum von Tibet"Women suffering in silence
Fariba Vafi is one of Iran′s most popular contemporary novelists. Written in her unmistakeably lucid, almost simple style, her latest novel to be translated into German once again looks at the issue of female identity and the role of women in a changing Iranian society. By Volker Kaminski
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Book review: Dima Wannousʹ "Die Veraengstigten"Naked despair laid bare
In 2011, the year of the Syrian revolution, Dima Wannous left her homeland and moved to Beirut. At that point she had published a volume of short stories and a novel, but afterwards she suffered writerʹs block. Her new novel is something of a personal account about overcoming trauma in the wake of dictatorship and war. By Volker Kaminski
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Book review: Mahi Binebine's novel "Le Fou du roi"At His Majesty's pleasure
Mahi Binebine's father spent 35 years at the court of the Moroccan King Hassan II, not as a diplomat or a minister, but as the king's jester. Although the storyline sounds like something straight out of the Arabian Nights, it is in fact based on real events. By Volker Kaminski
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Book review: Khaled Khalifaʹs "Der Tod is ein muehseliges Geschaeft"A funeral cortege through hell
As they drive across Syria with their fatherʹs coffin on the back seat, three siblings encounter a shattered country where despotism and underhand dealings have become the norm, testing the bonds of family to destruction. By Volker Kaminski
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Book review: "Istanbul Istanbul" by Burhan SönmezLaughing in the face of death
In his novel "Istanbul Istanbul", Burhan Sönmez describes the fate of four political prisoners, for whom telling stories in their shared cell becomes a passion. It enables them to retain a scrap of dignity in the face of torture and inhumanity. By Volker Kaminski
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Book review: Dorit Rabinyan′s "All the Rivers"Star-crossed lovers
In her bestselling novel "All the Rivers", Dorit Rabinyan tells the poignantly beautiful love story of an Israeli translator and a Palestinian painter in New York, a romance that eventually dies due to the apparently unsolvable Arab-Israeli conflict. By Volker Kaminski
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Christoph Peters′ short story collection ″Selfie mit Sheikh″Closer to the unknown
With great attention to detail and understated humour, Christoph Peters′ new short story collection revolves around Western Europe′s well-known longing for wisdom and spiritual experiences from the East. By Volker Kaminski
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Book review: Niroz Malek′s ″Der Spaziergaenger von Aleppo″Surviving in the death zone
The writer Niroz Malek lives in his hometown of Aleppo to this day. What does it mean to preserve a vestige of dignity in the midst of death and destruction? The fifty seven miniatures in his collection provide the answer. Volker Kaminski read the book
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Book review: Elif Shafak′s ″Three Daughters of Eve″Straddling worlds
In her latest novel, ″Three Daughters of Eve″, best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak follows the life of a young woman from Istanbul who is torn between tradition and secularisation as she pursues a degree at Oxford University – and is plunged into deep personal and religious conflicts as a result. Volker Kaminski read the book
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Interview with the Iranian writer Abbas Maroufi″Self-censorship is the worst″
Abbas Maroufi, born in Tehran in 1957, was one of Iran's most respected writers when he was sentenced to prison and a flogging for 'offending the fundamental principles of Islam'. It was only thanks to the intervention of the German PEN Center and the intercession of Gunter Grass that he was able to leave Iran in 1996. He has lived in Germany ever since. Interview by Volker Kaminski