Navid Kermani

The world is looking at Iran. For months, the population has taken to the streets to protest against the regime. The courageous and significant resistance, especially by women, has continued unabated since September 2022, despite the dangers to the demonstrators. In the protests, we are witnessing a solidarity between men and women that was previously unheard of on such a scale. What is the state of affairs at the moment? What can we do from the outside for the people in Iran?

Navid Kermani, one of the leading intellectuals of our time, will speak on this evening about the current situation in the country and the history of Iran in the 20th century, framed by reading passages from his novel Your Name.

The German-Iranian author and journalist Navid Kermani, born in 1967 in Siegen, lives as a freelance writer in Cologne. He is a habilitated Orientalist and a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry. He regularly publishes articles, reportages and art reviews in the major German-language newspapers. His book Was jetzt möglich ist – 33 politische Situationen (2022) brings together his most important political articles from almost three decades.