CROSSING BORDERS:

Dr. Navid Kermani

Navid Kermani is born in Siegen (Germany) as fourth son of an Iranian family. He has two daughters and is living in Cologne, writing and fighting for justice and human rights. He studied Islamic religion and civilization, philosophy and arts of theatre at the universities of Cologne, Bonn and Cairo. Already during his studies he was writing literary reviews and reports for renowned German newspapers and magazines, and was working as dramaturge for prominent theatres in Mulheim (Ruhr) and Frankfurt (Main). In his literary work he is mainly dealing with Islam and Christianity, but love, life and death are also important subjects of his novels. He is also regularly reporting on life in war and crisis torn regions. He is considered as a prominent voice in Germany‘s cultural and political life and in 2007 he was admitted to the German Academy for Language and Literature. Among many other honours he was rewarded in 2015 with the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Since 2006 he is hosting, together wirh Guy Helminger, the Literary Salon at the Stadtgarten in Cologne, and as qualified professor in oriental studies he is at present teaching at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

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