Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

What role did homoeroticism play in Islamic poetry written between the 13th and 15th centuries? We need look no further than Rumi and Babur. By Melanie Christina MohrMore

Finding somewhere to live, pursuing asylum claims and other bureaucratic procedures distract refugee writers from their creative vocation and their self-esteem suffers. In the eyes of everyone else, they are mere refugees, the mastery of their own language a relic from an ever-receding past. How can authors adapt to their new countries? Must they remain prisoners to writing about yearning and nostalgia? By Rama JarmakaniMore

Arabian prince, magician, master of ceremonies and traveller between worlds: Michael Buthe (1944–1994) was one of the most vivid personalities of the German art scene, dividing his time between Cologne and Marrakesh during the 1970s. A portrait by Natalie Goltenboth More

Despite bearing the title ″Tahrir Tales: Plays from the Egyptian Revolution″, the works in this new anthology, translated and edited by Rebekah Maggor and Mohammad Albakry, aren′t limited to the events of January and February 2011, nor to other uprisings that have taken place in Cairo′s iconic downtown square. By Marcia Lynx Qualey More

Abbas Maroufi, born in Tehran in 1957, was one of Iran's most respected writers when he was sentenced to prison and a flogging for 'offending the fundamental principles of Islam'. It was only thanks to the intervention of the German PEN Center and the intercession of Gunter Grass that he was able to leave Iran in 1996. He has lived in Germany ever since. Interview by Volker Kaminski

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Germany was this year′s guest of honour at the Istanbul International Book Fair. This could not have happened at a better time – despite or perhaps because of the political dissonance. By Karen KrugerMore

Since the 1990s, the exiled Iranian singer Mamak Khadem has been combining Persian classical music with world music. For her new album, "The Road," she has discovered unusual Eastern European soundscapes. Marian Brehmer talked to the musician and listened to her latest CDMore

CAMP describes itself as a exhibition venue ″for art discussing questions of displacement, migration, immigration and asylum.″ Changiz M. Varzi visited its latest exhibition – Deportation RegimeMore

Streams of migration are a challenge. On the move along with individual people are whole cultures, languages and habits that are sometimes not understood outside their homelands. Music, as a non-verbal phenomenon bound up with strong feelings, could operate as a medium for bridging the consequent perplexity. By Hans-Jurgen LinkeMore