Guest at the ilb 2002
Adel Karasholi was born in 1936 in Damascus, Syria. He published his first poems at the age of fifteen. The youngest member of the Arab Writers Union, he left his home country when the organisation was banned in 1959. In 1961 he came to Leipzig, studied at the Institute of Literature and at the Drama College and graduated on the subject of Bertolt Brecht’s theatre. As a bilingual poet and essayist, his texts often deal with the idea of home: »Home is not a geographically specific location, but a spiritual construct which can only become experienced through writing«. In addition, he translates prose texts, poetry, and drama from both languages. He has recently translated Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry in the collection »Der Würfelspieler«, (2009, tr: The Dice Player).
Adel Karasholi lives in Leipzig.
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