Literatur.Review - The literary magazine for the whole world

The scene of horror and tenderness

Private

Halim Youssef

Halim Youssef's "Liebe im Schatten der dunklen Flaggen" is a poetic masterpiece about surviving in the darkness on the Iraqi-Syrian border

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A future that slips through the fingers

Lane + Co

Abdulrazak Gurnah

In "Theft", Abdulrazak Gurnah traces the fine cracks that run through friendship, love and origins when a society is set in motion. A quiet novel that unfolds its greatest power precisely in its omissions

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Presence of the Absent Man

Private

Alia Mamdouh

A story from Iraq

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Black

Larissa Villacorta

Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso

A poem about the historical burden inscribed on black bodies.

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Domination and resistance

Private

Maja Zwick

Language, power and migration in an unfinished decolonisation – the case of Western Sahara

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Remembering borders

Private

In his new book "Border Documents", Mexican photographer Arturo Soto unfolds a quiet, poetic topography of memory - far from clichés, close to the everyday reality of the border

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Understanding China (and ourselves) better

F. Mantovani

Romain Graziani

In "Les Lois et les Nombres - Essai sur les ressorts de la culture politique chinoise", Romain Graziani explains where the roots of Chinese state thinking lie, what they mean and how they still shape our present day

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The Theatre of Resistance and South Africa's Unfinished Story

Private

Shafā’ath-Ahmad Khān

A dialogue with Mbizo Chirasha and anti-apartheid writer, pro-African poet and activist Shafā’ath-Ahmad Khān on the legacy of protest and the power of writing.

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At the very bottom

Hu Anyan / Suhrkamp

Hu Anyan

In his autobiography "I deliver parcels in Beijing", Hu Anyan offers a Kafkaesque vision of the precarious world of the Chinese platform economy

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The myth and compassion

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro @ 2025 San Diego Comic-Con International

Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein adaptation is more than just a remake: it is a liturgical reading of Mary Shelley's myth - a poetic affirmation of the power of storytelling, the vulnerability of life and the humanity of the monster

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"People are only really dead when nobody thinks about them anymore" *

Reprodukt

The graphic novel "El abismo del olvido" by Paco Roca and Rodrigo Terrasa is an astonishing educational piece about dealing with mass graves in Spain

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The stranger on the edge of the valley

Private

A Lebanese story

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How stories begin and the past takes on a new form

Lloyd Smith

Tan Twan Eng

In his third novel "The House of Doors", Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng skilfully blends fact and fiction, exploring the relationship between life and literature

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Tuesday

Private

Menaf Othman

Associations and thoughts on an unusual day of the week from a Kurdish perspective

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Adaptation and resistance

Private

Rudolf Isler

"Der Untertan" (The Loyal Subject), "Sonnenfinsternis" (Darkness at Noon) and "Sansibar oder der letzte Grund" (Flight to Afar) - How characters from earlier novels can reflect the zeitgeist of today

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«For me, literature is not merely art; it is a form of protest.»

Private

Sumaiyah Muhammad Salisu

About uncomfortable truths. A conversation with North Nigerian writer and literary activist Sumaiyah Muhammad Salisu

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The One-Night Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Private

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

A short story from the Philippine diaspora

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Literary travel in the Philippines

Map Data from OpenStreetMap, Grafik Christiane Suppé

From Manila to Naga City and Santa Monica – Philippine literature is as complex and fragmented as the country and its languages. And as is so often the case, literature and its authors know more about the past, present and future than the country itself

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Past, present and future

Private

From left to right: Mia Tijam, Dr. Mary Jane Guazon Uy, Axel Timo Purr and Trixie Adviento Odiamar

Panel discussion on Bikol literature, colonial history, language, identity and resistance – a multifaceted view of the past and present of Filipino culture

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The blood of the gazelle

Private

Aya Gamal Mohey Eldeen

A poem from Egypt

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Aria for the end of the world

Salome Bötticher

Ollier Lemvo Dondedieu Richtel

A short story from Texaco La Tsiémé, Brazzaville

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Dead time, dead land

Sandy Hau

Caroline Hau

In her emotionally dense and intelligent novel, Caroline Hau tells of the recurring colonial relationships and symbiotic hierarchies that occur in Philippine society and beyond

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Fear of the Camera