Literature opens up spaces in which different experiences, memories and perspectives enter into dialogue with one another. With the upcoming releases in 2026, we want to make international voices visible and cross cultural boundaries.
This year's heart projects combine novels, poetry and literary translations from Persian-speaking countries. They tell of migration and memory, of mysticism and nature, of female voices in literary history and of the power of poetic language.
With authors like Nastaran Makaremi, Fariba Vafi and Sohrab Sepehri as well as the editors and translators Ali Abdollahi and Kurt Scharf the program brings together important literary voices. The books invite you to discover new literary landscapes and get to know perspectives that enrich the German-speaking literary world.
TOTAL
Nastaran Makaremi
With TOTAL Nastaran Makaremi publishes a complex novel about power, resources and the traces that economic interests leave behind in societies. In poetic and at the same time haunting language, the Iranian author combines personal experiences with historical and political contexts and creates a narrative of great literary power.
At the beginning of the novel there is Jonah, an engineer for the “Total Company” who is the only one to survive an accident in the desert. After his return he becomes – half by chance, half by self-dramatization – the founder of a new quasi-religious order. From this starting point, Makaremi unfolds a visionary, partly bitterly satirical story about colonial structures, power mechanisms and the creation of myths.
TOTAL moves between the past and the present and links individual fates with larger social developments. Memories, reality and symbolism intertwine and open up a dense literary panorama about responsibility, exploitation and the search for truth in a complex world.
Nastaran Makaremi was born in Abadan, Iran, in 1978 and works as a writer, journalist, artist and filmmaker. After studying fine arts, she taught painting, design and art history at universities in Tehran and Isfahan. In addition to her literary work, she has been committed to imprisoned writers in Iran for years and supports the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. She has been part of the “Continue Writing” program since 2022. In 2025 she moved to Berlin and received fellowships from the DAAD's Berlin Artists Program and from Weltoffenes Berlin.
Her publications include the novels Ordibehesht Deadlock (2015), Soirée After the Funeral (2017), Bergamot of Sun (2017) and Distress Stages (2024). She has received several awards for her works, including the South Story Literary Award and the Gamalzadeh Literary Award.
Translated from Persian TOTAL von Bianca Gackstatter.
The cup of my desire
Ali Abdollahi & Kurt Scharf
With The cup of my desire An extraordinary collection of Persian poems by thirteen female Sufi poets from over twelve centuries is published. The volume brings together voices from the entire Persian-speaking cultural area and makes poetic perspectives visible that have received little attention for a long time.
The poems tell of love and longing, of spirituality, mysticism and female self-determination. They defy social expectations and at the same time open up impressive access to the tradition of Sufism. Included are works by classical poets such as Rabi'a Bint Ka'b Balchi and Jahan Malek-Chatun-i Shirasi as well as texts by mystics, teachers and rulers such as Banu Hayati Kermani, Rashha Beigum, Machfi Badachschi and Fasl-e Bahar Khanom.
The translations by Kurt Scharf and Ali Abdollahi transfer the linguistic subtlety and emotional depth of these poems into German. The volume is supplemented by afterwords from the editors, which provide insights into the history of Sufism and the importance of female voices within this tradition.
Ali Abdollahi, born in Birjand in Iran in 1968, now lives in Berlin as a poet, translator and literary critic. He published several volumes of poetry and translated works by Friedrich Nietzsche, Rainer Maria Rilke, Franz Kafka and Bertolt Brecht, among others, into Persian. Together with Kurt Scharf, he already edited the anthology A Thief in the Dark Stares at a Painting, which was published by Sujet Verlag in 2021.
Kurt Scharf was born in 1940 and was deputy director of the Goethe Institute in Tehran and director of the Goethe Institute in Porto Alegre, Istanbul and Lisbon. He is also a founding member of the House of World Cultures and worked there as head of the literature, society and science department. In addition to his work as an editor and translator of literature from Persian, Portuguese and Spanish, he freelances for literary publications.
The cup of my desire combines literary history with timeless poetry and opens up new perspectives on female mystical literature from the Persian cultural area.
People from past lives
Fariba Vafi
With People from past lives A novel is published about migration, memory and the search for belonging between different worlds. Between Berlin, Tabriz and Tehran, Fariba Vafi unfolds a sensitive story about strangeness, loneliness and the attempt to find a new place in life.
Vafi's literature is characterized by its calm, poetically condensed language. Her stories produce precise observations of everyday life in which personal experiences and social realities are closely linked. Her texts tell of people whose inner conflicts also reflect larger political and social questions.
Fariba Vafi was born in Tabriz in 1963 and is one of the most important voices in contemporary Persian literature. She has been publishing short stories and novels since the 1980s, which have won numerous awards and been translated into numerous languages. Her works have appeared in English, French, Italian, Turkish and German, among others.
Her most important awards include the Huschang Golschiri Prize, the Yalda Prize, the Mehregan Adab Prize and the Isfahan Literary Prize. For her novel Tarlan, which was published by Sujet Verlag in 2015, she received the Literature Prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2017.
Fariba Vafi is a member of the Association of Iranian Writers and the PEN Center Germany. She has been living in Berlin since 2020 as part of the DAAD's Berlin Artists Program.
People from past lives tells us vividly about how memories and origins shape life - and how literature can build bridges between different worlds.
The novel is translated by Jutta Himmelreich.
Between the syllables
Sohrab Sepehri / Ed. Kurt Scharf
With Between the syllables Sujet Verlag is dedicated to one of the most important poets of modern Persian literature: Sohrab Sepehri. The bilingual volume of poetry brings together sixteen key works by the Iranian poet in the Persian original and in German translation.
Sepehri's poems combine a closeness to nature, mysticism and humanism in a clear and at the same time richly image-rich language. His poetry revolves around humans as part of nature and asks questions about silence, time, spirituality and connection. His texts develop a poetic power that reaches far beyond cultural and linguistic boundaries.
The volume contains, among other things, the extensive poem The Sound of the Course of Water, which is considered a poetic manifesto of his thinking
Sohrab Sepehri was born in Kashan in 1928 and, alongside Nima Youschidsch, Forugh Farrochzad and Ahmad Schamlou, is one of the defining voices of the “New Poem” of Iranian modernism. In addition to his literary work, he was also internationally known as a painter. Travels to Europe, India, Japan and the USA as well as his involvement with Buddhism and Sufism had a lasting influence on his work.
Sepehri's poems are characterized by their musical language, their proximity to the spoken word and their quiet observation of the world. Themes such as nature, loneliness, friendship and spirituality are at the center of his work. His works have been translated into numerous languages and are now among the most important voices in modern Persian literature.
With Between the syllables German-speaking readers gain new access to this extraordinary poetic tradition.
