Charlotte Ueckert was born in Oldenburg and now lives in Hamburg, where she works as a writer. She has already published a book about the Oldenburg region with Gmeiner-Verlag and has made many trips to the area between the Weser and the Elbe.
Farhad Showghi, born in Prague in 1961, spent his childhood and youth in West Germany and Iran. After studying medicine in Erlangen, he has lived and worked in Hamburg since 1989 as a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, author and translator. His most recent publications include the individual volumes “In verbrachter Zeit” (kookbooks 2014), “Wolkenflug spielt Zerreißprobe” (kookbooks 2017) and “Anlegestellen für Helligkeiten” (kookbooks 2021). Farhad Showghi has received, amongst other honours, cultural promotion awards for literature from the cities of Erlangen and Hamburg, the 3-sat Prize at the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition, the N. C. Kaser Poetry Prize and the Peter Huchel Prize.
Feridun Zaimoglu, born in 1964, has lived in Germany since he was six months old. He studied art and medicine in Kiel, where he has since worked as a writer, screenwriter and playwright. He has received numerous awards for his writing, including the 2025 Walter Kempowski Prize. Following “Leyla”, “Liebesbrand”, “Siebentürmeviertel”, “Evangelio”, “Die Geschichte der Frau” and “Bewältigung”, his most recent novel is “Sohn ohne Vater”.
Hami Nguyen was born in Vietnam in 1989 and fled to Germany with her mother in 1991, where her father had worked as a contract labourer in the German Democratic Republic. She studied economics, sociology and political science in Halle/Saale and Lucerne. In 2022, she was named one of the country’s 100 most influential women by Focus magazine. In 2024, her debut book “Das Ende der Unsichtbarkeit – Warum wir über anti-asiatischen Rassismus sprechen müssen” (The End of Invisibility – Why We Must Talk About Anti-Asian Racism) was awarded the Immigration Book Fair Book Prize. She works as an educator at the Anne Frank Educational Centre in Frankfurt am Main and, as an activist under the handle @hamidala_, campaigns for a fairer society.
Hanna Mittelstädt, born in 1951, lives and works in Hamburg. She was a co-founder and, for 45 years, co-director of Edition Nautilus. She was a co-translator of many works from French (including “Situationistische Internationale”, “Cravan”, “Picabia” and “Céline”) and a member of the editorial team for the publishing house’s own magazines, Revolte and Die Aktion.
Hatice Açikgöz (born in Bremen in 1993) lives in Hamburg. She works as a freelance writer, artist and editor. Her short story “ein oktopus hat drei herzen” (Sukultur Verlag) was published in 2022, and her poetry debut “fancy immigrantin. ein poetisches tagebuch” (w_Orten & meer Verlag). Together with Dara Brexendorf and Zara Zerbe, she produces the podcast “literarisch, solidarisch”. She is currently working on her debut novel, for which she received the “Raus nur Raus!” grant from the City of Hamburg. She was a Fall Resident at the International Writing Programme at the University of Iowa. In 2025, she was a fellow at the Kurt Tucholsky Museum as part of the programme “Aus der Ferne gesehen – Begegnungen in Brandenburg” (“Seen from Afar – Encounters in Brandenburg”), a collaborative project between the LCB and Kulturland Brandenburg.
Helene Bukowski, born in Berlin in 1993, now lives in her hometown once again. She studied at the Hildesheim Institute of Literature and, alongside her writing, also runs courses and workshops in creative writing. Her debut novel, “Milchzähne”, was published in 2019; it was nominated for the Mara Cassens Prize, the Rauris Literature Prize and the Kranichstein Literature Promotion Prize, amongst others. The novel has been translated into French and English, and a film adaptation is in preparation.
Jens Johler, born in Neumuenster in 1944 and raised in Hamburg, now lives in Berlin. After several years of being trained and then working as an actor in Munich and Dortmund, he finally became a free-lance writer and, in addition to novels and thrillers, has written for the stage.
Karen Köhler was born in Hamburg; she wanted to become an astronaut, learnt to skydive and studied acting. After twelve years in the theatre, she began writing and now publishes plays, screenplays, radio plays, essays, short stories and novels. Her most recent works include “Wir haben Raketen geangelt” (2014), “Miroloi” (2019), “Himmelwärts” (2024) and “Spielen” (2025). She writes regularly for Die ZEIT and ZEITmagazin.
