Abbas Khadir

In 2017, which was the same year he was nominated for the Mainzer Stadtschreiber literary award, Khadir completed two additional manuscripts, one of which was a humorous exploration of the German language, and the other a novel.

In 2014, and in cooperation with a number of writers, Khadir organized “Cairo Short Stories” writers’ workshop for outstanding young writers at the Goethe-Institut Ägypten. Out of the 108 participants who submitted their short stories, eleven candidates were shortlisted, and three won. The goal of the workshop was to assist the candidates in their development process as writers by giving them tips and pieces of advice. In return, Khadir and the other writers will get to learn about the candidates’ experience as writers influenced by the German and Arab cultures.

During his high school years, Khadir got involved with unauthorized personnels, and engaged in political activities that opposed the regime of Saddam Hussein, who was the dictator of Iraq at the time. He sold books that were banned by the government, to which he attached leaflets containing his own writings. Consequently, he was arrested and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, namely from the year 1993 to 1995. In 1996, he fled to Jordan, and later moved to a number of Mediterranean countries, including Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Turkey, Greece and Italy, in which he resided as an undocumented refugee and lived off temporary job posts. In 2000, he was arrested upon his arrival to Germany by a Bavarian border police officer, and, as per the German asylum law in effect at the time, was prohibited from leaving the country.

Abbas Khadir (3 March 1973; German: Abbas Khider; Arabic:عباس خضر) is a German author and poet of Iraqi origin. He was imprisoned for his political activism against the regime of Saddam Hussein, and took refuge in a number of countries before he was granted asylum in Germany, namely Berlin, in 2000, where he continues to live. He is mostly known for his four novels, "The Village Indian,” “The President's Oranges,” “Letter to the Aubergine Republic” and “A Slap in the Face,” to which he received several literary prizes and scholarships, including, most recently, the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize.

Khadir was born in Baghdad in 1973, and is brother to eight siblings. He was born to illiterate parents who sold dates for a living.