Bachtyar Ali, born 1966 in Sulaimaniyya in northern Iraq, challenged Saddam Hussein's dictatorship through his involvement in the student protests. He dropped his studies in geology to dedicate himself to poetry. His work includes novels, poems and essays published in a range of languages. Since the mid-1990s Ali lives in Germany. In 2017 he received the Nelly Sachs Award. Ali lives in Cologne.
Photo: Dominic Steinmann/ Keystone/ dpa