Nora Osagiobare: Daily Soap

Toni’s skin tone falls into the “Cappuccino Macchiato” category, served on a balmy November evening in Sri Lanka (according to the national classification of people of color). But it’s not just everyday racism that gets to her—it’s also her family’s questionable obsessions with insurance policies, affairs, scam emails, and garden fences. And then there are her chronic headaches, as well as her twin sister, who’s better than her at almost everything. Only when Toni watches her daily soap opera can she briefly unwind—until eventually, even that’s no longer possible.

Meanwhile, the family business, Banal & Bodeca, is facing a fierce backlash. To refute the accusation of racism, it plans to produce a reality show featuring Black cast members. When the paths of the two families cross, unexpected entanglements ensue. Everyone involved must ask themselves: Isn’t life itself a kind of soap opera?

“Unlike so many writers of her generation who tend toward self-imposed provincialism but live in old city apartments, she doesn’t retreat narratively into some mountain landscape. Such complacency is unmasked with pinpoint accuracy in Osagiobara’s *Daily Soap*.”
Die ZEIT

Nora Osagiobare, born in Zurich in 1992, studied creative writing in Biel and Vienna. With her debut novel *Daily Soap*, she was a fellow at the Prose Writers’ Workshop at the Literary Colloquium Berlin and received a grant from the Canton of Zurich for the work. In 2025, she was awarded the KELAG Prize for her short story “Daughter Issues” as part of the 49th Days of German-Language Literature. She lives in Zurich.