Nava Ebrahimi, born 1978 in Tehran, studied journalism and economics in Cologne. She worked as an editor at the Financial Times Deutschland and the Kölner StadtRevue. She has lived in Graz with her family since 2012. Her debut novel "16 Wörter" was published in 2017 and was awarded the Austrian Debut Prize. The novel tells the story of Mona, who decides to fly to her homeland, Iran, one last time on the occasion of her grandmother's death. Together with her mother, she ventures to the elusive homeland. For Mona, the trip becomes a confrontation with her own identity and origins, with so many things uncertain about them.
In 2020, her new novel "Das Paradies meiner Nachbarn" was published. Again, it is about life in several cultures, about migration, about exile and home. The protagonist Ali Najjar believes he has left his past far behind. He has long since arrived in Germany, successful as a product designer. Iran, Tehran, his family are a foreign world to him. Then he receives a message from a stranger. And everything he has held on to so far is shaken.
In 2021,
Nava Ebrahimi received the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize.
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