"49th Literary Week: When We Were Swans – Reading & Discussion with Behzad Karim Khani"
Description
A boy yearns for a violence that leaves a hollow in the outline of Germany. He lives in a housing estate where the kitchens have no ventilation and the hallways reek of poverty, marjoram, and bunk beds. It's the 1990s, and he and his family have fled from Iran to the Ruhr region. His mother is a sociologist, his father a writer whose language has fifteen different words for pride. He experiences Germany as an insult and becomes an observer, exhausting himself trying to understand the country, while his mother believes in his ability to arrive and move forward, and her son's rage grows ever more unbridled. For on the streets of his neighborhood, a violence reigns that his parents barely notice.
Behzad Karim Khani was born in Tehran and grew up in an artistic family. He was not yet ten years old when he came to Germany with his parents, who settled in the Ruhr area. He has lived in Berlin-Kreuzberg since 2003. His debut novel, Hund, Wolf, Schakal (Dog, Wolf, Jackal), was published in 2022.
Tickets are available at the box office!
Welcome address: Pastor Stefan Kreutz, St. Stephani Cultural Church, Bremen
Moderation: Burcu Arslan, Radio Bremen