Feridun Zaimoğlu

Feridun Zaimoğlu — Biography

Feridun Zaimoğlu was born on 4 December 1964 in Bolu and emigrated to Germany with his family in 1965; after living in Berlin and Munich until 1985, he studied medicine and art in Kiel, where he still lives. Working as an author and journalist, he has published essays and criticism in newspapers such as Die Zeit, Die Welt, SPEX and the Tagesspiegel, worked at the Mannheim National Theatre in 1999-2000, and served as island poet of Sylt in 2003. His 1995 debut book Kanak Sprak, which rendered the slang of young Turkish men in Germany into literature, helped inspire the anti-racist Kanak Attak movement, of which he became known as the "spiritual leader"; a related flag installation was shown at the Kunsthalle Wien in 2005. His 2006 novel Leyla marked his first time writing from a female perspective. His novels have appeared on the German Book Prize longlist in 2006, 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2025, and with Günter Senkel he has also written stage plays including adaptations of Othello and works for the Salzburg Festival. His honours include the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize, the Grimmelshausen Prize and the Civis Media Prize, the 2016 Berlin Literature Prize, and the 2023 Brothers Grimm guest professorship.