Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

Iranian-Canadian author Ava Farmehri’s debut novel paints a bleak picture of growing up in Iran after the Islamic Revolution. The book is both a prison novel and a reflection on freedom. Gerrit Wustmann read it for Qantara.deMore

Iran is far more modern than many people realise: our view is clouded by media distortion and the overriding political narrative. The nation’s historic and cultural riches are often overlooked. A declaration of love for Iran by Marian BrehmerMore

Since the beginning of the Islamic Republic, the guardians of the country’s religion have been battling to get the correct image of society and history into young people’s heads. But the battle seems to be an increasingly hopeless one. By Shabnam von HeinMore

Iran's capital city, Tehran, is firmly in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic. The cultural scene is suffering because of it too. But in the face of adversity and the often arbitrary interventions by the censor, books are still being published – such as the diaries of David Rubinowicz, who was murdered by the Nazis. Mahmoud Hosseini Zad translated the book. He spoke to Gerrit Wustmann about his work and the current situation in IranMore

Iran’s contemporary poets are less well known in Germany than the old Persian classics. Kurt Scharf has now translated 32 of them into German. Marian Brehmer dipped into the anthologyMore

Over ten years after the publication of "Censoring an Iranian Love Story", Shahriar Mandanipour's latest novel, "Moon Brow", is now available in German translation. This is a story about the loss of youth, the horrors of war and a land in the iron grip of dictatorship. By Gerrit WustmannMore

Mullahs, dictatorship, nuclear conflict – Iran could be reduced to these keywords if one were to rely only on the articles in the daily press. But to really understand a country better, you have to study its literature. And Iranian literature is just as diverse as the country itself. By Gerrit WustmannMore