Most recent articles by Gerrit Wustmann
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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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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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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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The animals of Istanbul – a literary homageA dog barks, a seagull mews
Istanbul's kings and queens are its seagulls, the cats and dogs in its alleyways, the pigeons on Taksim Square. The city's animals are also an essential component of its literature. A new anthology of short stories by Turkish-language authors offers up a narrative tribute to the city's non-human inhabitants
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Kuzey Topuz and "Der Freund"
The human as board game
In her debut novel, "Der Freund" (The Friend), Kuzey Topuz has created a complex weave of fragments and perspectives. The book is all about power and influence in interpersonal relations and at a societal level. It's a masterstroke
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Nassir Djafari's "Der Großcousin"On the run
A man who has lost touch with his Iranian roots meets a distant relative fleeing to Germany at the height of the refugee crisis in 2015. "Der Großcousin", Nassir Djafari's third novel, makes for a thrilling and topical read
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Iranian protest literatureEhtesham-Zadeh and the inner revolution
"Zan", Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh's short story collection, tells of Iranian women during the uprising in Iran, and of women in exile grappling in diverse ways with their identity and roots. A book about women, life and freedom that has arrived at exactly the right moment
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Reports from Turkish women's prisonsA square of sky
In the 1970s and 80s, the author Asiye Müjgan Güvenli recorded the stories of women in Turkish prisons. Now the texts have been published in German and provide an insight into disturbing patriarchal conditions in Turkey at the time.
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Turkish literature in translationHakan Bicakci's disintegrating self
At the heart of Hakan Bicakci's novel "Schlaftrunken" – literally 'half-asleep' – lies an Istanbul torn apart by the gentrifying diggers and a protagonist plagued by sleeplessness and nightmares, watching his life slip through his fingers
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Iran: a graphic novelThe making of a revolution
Nothing has been the same in Iran since Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, was murdered by the morality police in September 2022. Cartoonist Marjane Satrapi's new book takes its name from the protest slogan, "Woman, life, freedom", and offers an easy-to-grasp take on the complicated background to the current situation
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The deserted villages of the soulYavuz Ekinci's new novel
Armenian genocide denial is a great and enduring lie by the Turkish state, characterised by ongoing violence and racism. Yavuz Ekinci takes up the subject in an unsparing and powerful novel: "Das ferne Dorf meiner Kindheit" – 'the distant village of my childhood'. Gerrit Wustmann read the book