Book reviews
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Claudia Mende's new bookA century of Arab feminism
For over a century, Arab women from Tunisia to Saudi Arabia have fought for their rights, against violence, and for autonomy over their lives and bodies. In her new book, Claudia Mende amplifies their voices.
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On fleeing to GermanyPoems that strike a blow for freedom
The new collection "Sei neben mir und sieh, was mir geschehen ist" (Be beside me and see what happened to me) features works by 29 poets who arrived in Germany as refugees. Their texts, written in German, Arabic, Kurdish, Persian, and Ukrainian, provide insights into their experiences.
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Bilingual children's booksKurdish as a living language
"When I was a child, I felt ashamed of my identity," says linguist and translator Marwan Sheikho. Determined to create a different reality for his own children, he's made his publishing debut with three bilingual Kurdish children's books.
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Science fiction from TurkeyA spark of reality in literary dystopia
Above the clouds lies not just boundless freedom, but also dystopian visions of the future. With his collection "Über den Wolken und andere Geschichten" (Above the Clouds and Other Stories), editor Ünver Alibey shows that science fiction is no longer a solely Western genre.
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Çiğdem Akyols's novel on Germany’s guest workersClear-eyed and unsentimental
In her debut novel, Çiğdem Akyol tells the story of a family caught between Germany and Turkey. The journalist offers an unvarnished portrait of the guest-worker generation and their children and sheds light on their ruthless exploitation in Germany.
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Book “111 Places in Berlin That Teach Us About Islam”Searching for traces of Muslim life in Berlin
The historic Şehitlik cemetery in Kreuzberg, the queer-friendly Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque in Moabit, the Muslim community's poetry slam i-Slam: Islam is part of Berlin's history, politics and everyday life.
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Taqi Akhlaqi’s book "Versteh einer die Deutschen"German quirks from an Afghan perspective
Taqi Akhlaqi came to Germany for four months on a scholarship to work on a new novel, where he experienced a range of cultural shocks. He recounts this experience in his highly readable new book “Versteh einer die Deutschen” (Surely someone must understand the Germans).
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Tareq Sydiq’s book “The New Protest Culture”Can protests transform society?
From Iran to the Last Generation, citizens in democracies and dictatorships alike are taking to the streets. Tareq Sydiq analyses these uprisings and asks why some fail while others dramatically change the system.
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Nathan Thrall's book "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama"What a bus accident can tell us about the occupation
At once empathic and analytic, Nathan Thrall’s “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama” shines a light on life in Palestine under Israeli occupation. Highly recommended.
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Short stories by Moussa AbadiMulti-religious life in the Jewish Quarter of Damascus
Syrian author Moussa Abadi depicts peaceful coexistence in the Jewish Quarter of 1920s Damascus in ‘The Queen and the Calligrapher’. The characters may be quirky and the stories bizarre, but they show us that the Damascus of yesterday could be a model for our own time.
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30 essays trace a problem that affects society as a wholeEveryday Anti-Semitism in Turkey
What is the origin of anti-Semitic ideologies in politics, media and society in Turkey? And what impact does this have on today's politics? A new book provides answers.
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New Choukri translationThe absurdist frame
In Mohamed Choukri's varied and experimental collection "Tales of Tangier" the hyperreal meets the bizarre. The off-kilter stories put forward by the late author seem to be set spinning on their edges, so fast and wild they might just fly off the page