Adel Karasholi (Arabic: عادل قرشولي. born October 15, 1936) is a German and Arabic writer.

Life

Already a published poet in his youth, he founded a literary magazine in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

which was banned by the Syrian government. He then began working in a publishing house and, later, as a journal and radio editor. In 1957 he became a member of the Arab Writer's Union. When it was banned in 1959, Karasholi emigrated to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and subsequently lived in various areas of East and West Germany. In 1961 he began living permanently in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. He studied at the German Literary institute at Leipzig University where he did his doctorate on the work of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

. From 1968 to 1993 he was a lecturer at Leipzig University. He is currently a freelance writer in Leipzig. Adel Karasholi is the author of numerous essays and books of poetry in Arabic and (since the 60s) German, as well as a translator of prose, poetry and plays between the two languages. His translations into German from Arabic include works by Alfred Faraq and

Mahmoud Darwish Mahmoud Darwish ( ar, محمود درويش, Maḥmūd Darwīsh, 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works. Darwish used Palestine ...

. In 1980 Adel Karasholi became a member of the East German Writer's Union. Since 1990, Karasholi has belonged to the Union of German Writers and, since 1992 to the German P.E.N. Center. He won the Leipzig Prize for Artistic Achievement in 1985 and the Albert-von-Chamisso Prize in 1992.

Works in German

* ''Wie Seide aus Damaskus'', Berlin 1968 * ''Umarmung der Meridiane'', Halle 1978 * ''Brecht in arabischer Sicht'', Berlin 1982 * ''Meine Geliebte kommt'', Berlin 1983 * ''Daheim in der Fremde'', Halle 1984 * ''Der Weinberg Erde'', Leipzig 1986 (with Joachim Jansong) * ''Wenn Damaskus nicht wäre'', Munich 1992 * ''Also sprach Abdulla'', Munich 1995 * ''Wie fern ist Palästina?'', Leipzig 2003 * ''Wo du warst und wo du bist'', Munich 2004

External links

Excerpt from ''Thus Spoke Abdulla''
in English translation * * http://www.fremd-sein.de/autoren/kara_1.html * http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?826 * https://web.archive.org/web/20080724135936/http://www.karasholi.com/ 1936 births Living people German people of Syrian descent Syrian emigrants to Germany German male writers Immigrants to East Germany Leipzig University faculty {{Germany-writer-stub