was born to a Swiss father and Tibetan mother in Bern in 1980. After studying at drama school there, she appeared in various roles in the theatre and television before making her Hollywood début in 2005. She is very involved in the movement to free Tibet. In her first work,
Wolfram Höll was born in Leipzig in 1986, and studied at the Swiss Institute of Literature in Biel. He is currently working on his Master in Scenic Arts Practice at the Academy of the Arts in Berne. Höll produced theatre projects for the Schlachthaus Theater Bern and various drama festivals.
The playwright, theatre theoretician and painter Valère Novarina was born in Chêne-Bougeries near Geneva, Switzerland, in 1947. The son of the architect Maurice Novarina and the actress Manon Trolliet spent his childhood and youth in Thonon-les-Bains in the region of Haute-Savoie, before he moved to Paris to study Philosophy and
Usama Al Shahmani was born in Baghdad in 1971 and grew up in Qalat Sukar (Al Nasiriyah). He studied Arabic language and modern Arabic literature, published three scholarly literary books and became an assistant at the University of Baghdad. While he was writing his dissertation, he had to flee his
Urs Jaeggi, born in 1931 in Solothurn, was a sociologist, writer, and visual artist. In 1981 he was awarded the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. In the 1960s he began publishing work on political sociology and was a professor at the Institute for Sociology at the Freie Universität Berlin from 1972 to
The Swiss writer Urs Mannhart was born in Rohrbach in 1975. He studied German, English, and philosophy for a few semesters and has worked as a bicycle courier and night watchman in an asylum centre.Since 2004, he has published reports in »Der Neue Bund« and made his debut as a
born in Zurich in 1950, is a political scientist, politician, and diplomat. He studied economics in Zurich and received his doctorate in political science from the University of Dortmund. He entered the diplomatic service in 1982 and was stationed in Egypt, Chechnya, Kosovo, Iran, and Berlin, among other places. He
Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Islamic Studies. He is currently Senior Research Fellow St Antony’s College (Oxford), Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan) and at the Lokahi Foundation (London). He is a Visiting Professor – in charge of the chair: Identity and Citizenship – at Erasmus University (Netherlands). Through his writings and
Stefan Zweifel was born in 1967 in Zurich, Switzerland. After studying philosophy, comparative literature, and Egyptology, he wrote his dissertation, working with Michael Pfister, on Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and the French doctor and philosopher Julien Offray de La Mettrie. The two also collaborated on
Ruth Schweikert was born in 1965 in Lörrach and grew up in Aarau. She trained in theater and studied German language and literature for a time. In 1994 she published her first volume of stories »Erdnüsse. Totschlagen« (tr: Peanuts. Kill), in which Schweikert reflects on the relationships within a family
is a musician and sound artist from Bern. Since 2005, he has been a member of the duo »Fitzgerald & Rimini« with author and spoken word poet Ariane von Graffenried, working at the intersection of literature, music, and performance. Besides playing the bass, he is interested in exploring the sonic
Petina Gappah is a writer and lawyer who was born in Zambia and raised in Zimbabwe. She studied law at the University of Zimbabwe and at Cambridge, and completed her doctorate at the University of Graz. An international lawyer specializing in the World Trade Organization, most recently, she worked for
