Sold to Denmark: Abbas Khider’s THE MEMORY FORGER

The journey abroad continues: The fabulous Straarup & Co. press in Denmark acquired the rights to Abbas Khider’s latest novel, THE MEMORY FORGER (Hanser 2022)!

»Abbas Khider’s writing is so thrilling it makes you shiver.« Cornelia Geissler, Frankfuter Rundschau

»A unique blend of profound thought and detailed observation, rendered with a light touch.« ARD, ttt

»Khider’s clear and concise style alternates with compelling, powerful lyrical passages that never descend into sickliness. For many years now, Khider has written books that transport any reader in possession of heart and soul into a world where you’re sometimes terrified, and sometimes also fall in love.« Anna Prizkau, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung

»A wonderfully intense novel, poignant on so many levels. Despite – or because of – all the pain that underscores it, it’s a deeply life-affirming and comforting story.« Andrea Gerk, WDR3, Lesestoff

»His style is unique in German literature: powerful rather than grumbling, and unadorned, sarcastic and confident rather than gloomy.« Irmtraud Gutschke, Der Freitag

»The Memory Faker also carries a message for those who insist that the 49-year-old Baghdad-born author’s novels are wholly autobiographical: he seems to be telling us that fiction can sometimes be more powerful than fact.« Anne-Sophie Balzer, Augsburger Allgemeine books supplement

Which memories make us who we are?

A hugely powerful life story: a bridge between Germany and Iraq, a great story of searching and remembering. This moving and poetic novel carries within it the sounds of a whole life. A host of beautiful images reveal the full force of Abbas Khider’s writing.

Said Al-Wahid always carries his passport with him, even when he’s just going to the supermarket. He lives in the Neukölln district of Berlin together with his wife Monica and their son Ilias. Said wants to be a writer, and has started publishing some texts in literary magazines. On his way home from a reading one evening, he receives the news that his mother is dying – and so, for the first time in years, he travels back to his country of origin. The closer Said gets to his family in Baghdad, the deeper his memories go: back to the years of his arrival in Germany, to the months he spent fleeing across Africa towards Europe, and finally back to moments of his childhood in Iraq. Which memories are missing, which have been distorted and which have been invented? Said doesn’t know. And that’s what has saved him to this day.

By the author of A SLAP IN THE FACE (Hanser 2018) which sold to Bosnia-Herzegovina (Buybook), Hungary (Noran Libro), Latvia (Harro von Hirschheydt), Netherlands (simlified Dutch, Eenvoudig Communiceren), Norway (Mangschou Forlag), UK (Seagull Books).

https://www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/en/buch/a-slap-in-the-face/978-3-446-25054-3/