LiteraTour Nord: Shida Bazyar, Die Lücken

Following her acclaimed novels on exile and the post-migrant present, Shida Bazyar presents a literary archaeology of home. In a precise, in-depth exploration of provincial life, she poses the radical question: On what foundations do we build our home?

Heimesbach in the Hunsrück is a fictional town where ninety years of German history have become embedded in its walls and the lives of its residents. It is a community that actively conceals its past while simultaneously becoming a refuge for those seeking safety here. The novel takes us through the years and the minds of those who shaped the village: from Jewish families who lost everything, to Nazi profiteers who reinvented themselves as innocent bystanders, to the Sharifi and Karimpour families, who fled Iran decades later. Shida Bazyar weaves a masterful narrative mosaic about the burden of history, the lie of a fresh start, and the desire to finally find a home.

“Shida Bazyar, pars pro toto, peels back the layers of time spanning a century, between memory and mystery. Captivating and disturbingly relevant.” Annett Gröschner

Shida Bazyar, born in 1988 in Hermeskeil, studied creative writing in Hildesheim and worked for many years in youth education. Her debut novel *It Is Quiet at Night in Tehran* (2016) has been translated into several languages and received numerous awards, including the Ulla Hahn Author Prize, the Uwe Johnson Prize, and a nomination for the International Booker Prize. “Drei Kameradinnen” followed in 2021 and was longlisted for the German Book Prize. In 2023, her work was honored with the Ernst Toller Prize.

The novel is on the longlist for the 2026 German Book Prize.

Organizers: Institute of German Studies at the University of Osnabrück, Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen, and Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen

Location: Renaissancesaal at the Ledenhof, Am Ledenhof 3-5

Ticket sales: Altstädter Bücherstuben, Bierstraße 37, Tel. 0541 26391