30^th Leukerbad International Literary Festival

Authors

Aliyeh Ataei

Iran

Aliyeh Ataei is one of the most important voices in contemporary Iranian literature. She was born in 1980 and grew up in the border region between Iran and Afghanistan before studying dramatic writing in Tehran. The author has lived in Paris since 2023 and is a writer-in-residence at the Literaturhaus Zürich in 2026.
Her life as a border dweller, affected by the wars in both Iran and Afghanistan, also shapes Ataei’s work as a writer and playwright. She explores war, identity and life as an emigrant in essays, short stories and novels. “Ataei describes the everyday brutality and the normality of violence without flinching,” observes the WOZ. Following major successes, particularly in France, Im Land der Vergessenen is her first publication in German. In the form of literary essays, the author focuses in particular on the suffering of women affected by war and trauma – in razor-sharp language devoid of any pathos. “These stories deal with what the international press cannot report,” writes the French newspaper Le Point. One could not wish for literature to be more engaged with the world.

Im Land der Vergessenen. Essays. Translated from Persian by Nuschin Maryam Mameghanian-Prenzlow. Luchterhand 2025

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