Literary talk
Registration
Writing about diaspora literature, the renowned writer Salman Rushdie insightfully remarked, “The act of migration puts into crisis everything about the migrating individual or group, everything about identity and selfhood and culture and belief.” This very sentiment is mirrored in the experience of the protagonist Nilufar in the debut novel Terafik by the German-Iranian writer Nilufar Karkhiran Khozani, which intertwines elements of autobiography. It narrates Nilufar's journey to Iran to visit a family she hardly knows. Growing up in Germany with her mother after being abandoned by her Iranian father, not speaking Persian, Nilufar has always felt her existence to be transient and estranged, as if she doesn't fully belong in Berlin nor in Tehran.
At this talk, Vietnamese readers will be introduced to Nilufar Karkhiran Khozani's debut novel for the first time, while also hearing the story of the Vietnamese-American poet Cát Nguyên, who has written about the criticism, “You're Vietnamese, why don't you speak Vietnamese?” The conversation will provide a space for discussions on diaspora literature from a queer perspective, as well as the advantages and conundrums faced by writers carrying dual identities.
Biography of the speaker
Speakers
Nilufar Karkhiran Khozani
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Nilufar Karkhiran Khozani (*1983) born in Giessen/Germany, studied Comparative Literature and Psychology, and completed training as a cognitive-behavioural therapist. In 2020 Romance "Would Be a Very Fine Bonus Indeed", a work of sampled poetry, was published by resonar. In the same year, she was artist in residence at PROSANOVA festival and translated the script Town Bloody Hall for the film "Als Susan Sontag im Publikum saß" (When Susan Sontag was sitting in the audience) by RP Kahl into German. In 2023 her debut novel Terafik was published by Blessing. In the following year, her essay about the protests in Iran In Schatten gebannt was nominated for the Wortmeldungen Ulrike Crespo literary prize. She lives in Berlin.
Cát Nguyên
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Cát Nguyên (they/them pronouns, *1996) is a queer, non-binary storyteller & a living manifestation of the american war in vietnam. they are an experimental poet, performance artist & diasporic dreamer born & raised in the u.s.a. after cát nguyên watched leaves gold & crisp in Paris & Berlin for several years, they began discovering old roots & planting new ones in Việt Nam. in 2023, cát nguyên published their debut zine, returning to where i’ve never been & co-founded
chữ cháy, a space to re-imagine & experiment with poetry as well as support local & diasporic vietnamese writers to connect with each other and nurture their writing through programs.
Moderator
Quyen Nguyen
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Quyen Nguyen (*1984) is a Doctor of English literature and an independent researcher and critic. She is an English-Vietnamese translator. Her published translated works include "What We Talk When We Talk Love" by Raymond Carver (co-translator), "Atonement" by Ian McEwan, "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. She is also the co-founder of a non-profit literary website
Zzz Review in Vietnam.
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