feeLit 2025: Hoda Barakat

From June 29 to July 12, feeLit - International Literature Festival Heidelberg will be hosting its authors at halle02 for the first time. This new festival venue will be all about books and writing. This year, feeLit presents national and international literary stars and brings authors together with their audience.

Hoda Barakat - Uprooted voices

Moderation: Nadja Moudarres-Madani
Language: Arabic/German (consecutive translation by Leila Chammaa)

Hoda Barakat's literary work is deeply influenced by the Lebanese civil war, the 50th anniversary of which will be celebrated in April 2025. She deals with the psychological and social consequences of the war in impressive novels. Living between Beirut and Paris, Barakat deals with belonging, alienation, exile, violence and the disintegration of social order. Her works, written in Arabic, have won numerous awards and been translated into many languages.

Her latest novel unfolds a profound narrative about loss, pain and identity. It centers on Hanadi, who loses her former beauty due to the rare disease acromegaly, and her mother, who vacillates between grief and rejection. With great narrative precision, Barakat sheds light on motherhood, beauty and decay and raises fundamental questions about human existence and the complexity of family relationships.

Current award: 2025 Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Literature (April 2025)

In cooperation with the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, LITPROM & Freunde Arabischer Kunst und Kultur e.V.