Usama al-Shahmani

Usama al-Shahmani (*1971 in Baghdad) studied Arabic language and modern Arabic literature. He published three scholarly books on Arabic literature in Iraq. In 2002, he was forced to flee Iraq because of a play and came to Switzerland. He worked as an interpreter and cultural mediator and translated works by authors including Thomas Hürlimann, Peter Heine and Friedrich Schleiermacher into Arabic. His first novel, In der Fremde sprechen die Bäume arabisch, was published in 2018, followed by Im Fallen lernt die Feder fliegen (2020) and Der Vogel zweifelt nicht am Ort, zu dem er fliegt (2022). His work has received several awards, including the Terra-Nova-Schillerpreis.