The Goethe-Institut Washington welcomes author Olga Grjasnowa for a discussion of her recently translated work,
City of Jasmine.
About
City of Jasmine from Amazon.com:
When Hammoudi, a young surgeon based in Paris, returns to Syria to renew his passport, he only expects to stay there a few days. But the authorities refuse to let him leave, and Hammoudi finds himself caught up in the fight against the regime. Meanwhile, budding actress Amal has also joined the protests against the government and her own father, by whom she feels betrayed. Realizing that they will never again be safe in their homeland, Amal and her boyfriend Youssef decide to flee to Europe in a desperate bid to survive.
But the path to safety brings its own risks, and Amal and Youssef once again narrowly escape death when their overcrowded ship sinks. Eventually they reach Germany, but soon discover that in this new life--where they are perceived as nothing but refugees--their struggle is far from over.
City of Jasmine is an intimate and striking novel that offers real insight into the horrors and inhumanity of war, whilst also focusing on the humanity of the protagonists, marking Olga Grjasnowa as one of the most talented and admired young authors working in Germany today.
Olga Grjasnowa (1984-) was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, grew up in the Caucasus region, and has lived in Poland, Russia, and Israel. When she was 12, she moved to Germany, eventually graduating from the German Institute for Literature/Creative Writing in Leipzig. Her first play,
Mitfühlende Deutsche (
Compassionate Germans), won the Dramatist Prize from the Wiener Worstätten. She has written the novel
All Russians Love Birch Trees, and her new novel is
City of Jasmine (Oneworld).
Olga Grjasnowa will also be a featured author at the Library of Congress Book Festival on August 31. For more information, about the Library of Congress Book Festival, visit their
Website.
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