Delphine Minoui »Badjens«

March 24, 2026 / 7.30 pm / Literature Café

Shiraz, fall 2022. 16-year-old Badjens climbs onto a dumpster during a demonstration to burn her headscarf in public in the midst of the uprising for women, life and freedom. As she stands in front of a crowd of people who cheer her on, her previous life passes before her in a flashback: her unwanted birth, her conservative father, her smartphone full of rebellious hits, her friends, her first love, her body that demands freedom, and the dress code for women that this unloved piece of cloth on her head prescribes and which she tries to undermine by all means - until she finally frees herself from it for good. (Translated by Astrid Bührle-Gallet, Orlanda 2025)

Delphine Minoui, who herself has Iranian-French roots, wrote "Badjens" based on social media posts and online interviews with young Iranian women. The author is a foreign correspondent for Le Figaro, has lived in Iran for a long time and has been reporting on events in the Middle East for 25 years. In 2006, she was awarded the Prix Albert Londres for a series of articles on Iraq and Iran, and in 2026 she was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French President in recognition of her work as a journalist and author.

Admission: 10,- / 7,- EUR ǀ Tickets at the Box Office or in advance online: https: //rausgegangen.de/locations/haus-des-buches/

Event organized by Literaturhaus Leipzig e.V. and Orlanda Verlag, with the support of the Institut français