Iranian author and intellectual Shahla Shafigh stresses the positive aspects of globalization, for instance the possibilities of world-wide networking for global issues. A portrait by Fahimeh Farsaie
Young Iranian women writers in Germany: Patchwork identities en.qantara.de - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from en.qantara.de Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Patchwork identities
In commanding language and without a trace of sentimentality or vanity, the second generation of Iranian women authors in Germany present the balancing act between Persian and German ways of life, weaving their parents′ lives into their literary material. By Fahimeh Farsaie
Three novels by Persian-speaking writers recently published in Germany were written by women: the authors Mehrnousch Zaeri-Esfahani, Nava Ebrahimi and Shida Bazyar. They are part of the second generation of Iranian diaspora writers, their parents having fled the country following the 1979 Islamic Revolution to end up – more or less by chance – in Germany.
With the exception of Shida Bazyar, who was born in Hermeskeil in 1988, the young storytellers came to Germany as children of politically persecuted parents during the 1980s. Initially exposed to linguistic isolation, mental exile and cultural confusion, they took to writing as adults to set down the stories of their hybrid identit