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Original language: Deutsch
Amir Cheheltan
Was born in Tehran in 1956. He made a name for himself as a writer while still a student with his second volume of short stories. Cheheltan has published numerous novels, which have been translated into English, German, Italian, Norwegian, Lithuanian, Arabic and Hebrew. In them, he explores everyday life in Iran against the backdrop of its turbulent history and the interplay between religion, the state and modernity. The German translations are published by C.H. Beck
www.cheh eltan.net
Fariba Vafi
Started her career as a writer in the 1980s. She belongs to the Azerbaijani minority in Iran. Her first collection of short stories was published in 1986. This was followed by 12 novels and collections of short stories, which went through several editions and won numerous prizes. Vafi's stories are microcosms; in her almost casual poetry she captures emotions and structures that are almost always political. Some of these publications have been translated into several languages, including English, Turkish, Armenian, French, Spanish and Norwegian. Three novels have been published in German to date: "Kellervogel", "Traum von Tibet" and "Tarlan" by Sujet Verlag. For the latter, she received the Litprom literary prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2017.
Viktor Yerofeyev
Born in Moscow in 1947, studied literature and linguistics and and has been active as a writer since the mid-seventies. In 1979 he was because of seihis participation in the literary almanac Metropol from expelled from the Writers' Union of the USSR. He became internationally known for his novel "Moscow Beauty", published in 1990, which has been translated into 27 languages. He writes regularly for the New York Times Book Review, DIE ZEIT, FAZ, DIE WELT and mare. Yerofeyev expressed in interviews and public statements repeatedly critically on the policy of the Russian government and to President Vladimir Putin. According to the Russian invasion of the Ukrainee he fled in March 2022 with his family via the Baltic States to Germany. His latest novel is called "Encyclopaedia of the Russian Soul" (Matthes & Seitz Berlin 2021)
Kadir Özdemir
Studied modern history and sociology and has been working 17 years as an intersectional trainer, author and theater maker on the topics of migration, participation, intersectionality , anti-discrimination work and empowerment. In addition to political education work, his heart contemporary literature, theater and the performative arts. At the beginning of 2021, he founded the theatercollective The heiresses of migrationwith which he performed at the Theaterformen Festivalin Hanover celebrated his first successes. Further performances followed at various theaters- and cultural festivals. Kadir Özdemir lives in Hanover.
José Luis Rocha
José Luis Rocha Gómez, born in Managua/Nicaragua in 1967, initially decided to train as a priest after completing his university studies. He joined the Jesuit order and worked for many years as a pastor on the Atlantic coast of Honduras. He later resigned from the priesthood, returned to Nicaragua and decided to do social science research at the UCA. One of his most important areas of work is migration research. He interpreted Central American migration to the United States as "civil disobedience" in a comprehensive study with a highly original approach. This work was accepted for a doctorate in sociology by the Philipps University in Marburg in 2016 and was published as a book with the Spanish title "La Desobediencia de las Masas" (San Salvador 2017). His study on the politicization of Nicaraguan youth in the run-up to the protest movement of 2018 ("Autoconvocados y Conectados") was eagerly received internationally and became a much-discussed standard work. He is a research fellow at the Universidad Centroamericana de El Salvador and at the Brooks Institute for Global Poverty at the University of Manchester and has received research grants from the Ford Foundation, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Indiana University as well as several academic honors. José Luis Rocha wrote an immense number of articles that appeared in all the relevant academic and political journals.
José Luis Rocha died at the end of December 2023 in a hospital in Guatemala City.