“In the belly of the queen” – more than just a book presentation

Author Karosh Taha read from her second, multi-award-winning novel “In the Queen’s Belly” in the literary salon at Hotel Bleiche in Burg. The reading part was short, and the Kurdish-born author, inspired by questions from the audience, quickly moved on from her text and presented her view of immigration problems. The traditional role model – on both sides – was questioned, as was the possibility of putting this into a linguistic form. “I only realized that language doesn’t have limits, but that language serves as a limit, when I read the manuscript,” said the author.

Anyone who picks up her novel will be surprised in the middle of the book that the reading text is suddenly upside down: The book can obviously be read from the front as well as the back – although it is not immediately clear what front and back even are! With the small-print note (at the beginning of one of the two essays) “Read this essay after reading”, the author probably achieves the opposite: it arouses curiosity – and the reader is already in the middle of it.

When you open a classic book, the beginning and end are clear – but this is far from the case with Karosh Taha. Karosh Taha: “Every story can be told in any other way, can be read in any other way.”

Her two halves of the book reflect the novel’s characters in their own way: one seems to be more of a female perspective, the other a more male-determined one. The focus is on Amira, 17 years old, and her family, originally from Kurdistan. Amira “shuttles” between cultures, feels more like a German as someone born in Germany, she lives like her German friends – until she beats up a cheeky boy in the school playground. The reactions range from “that’s right” to “a girl, especially one of Kurdish origin, doesn’t do that”. Her father, also Kurdish, thinks this is the right thing to do and comes under criticism himself, again from both sides – the plot of the novel takes its course …

The author Karosh Taha was born in Kurdistan (Iraq) in 1987 and moved to Germany with her family when she was nine years old. It had become increasingly dangerous for Kurds in the border region with Turkey. Karosh Taha studied English and history in Duisburg-Essen and Kansas and now lives in Cologne.

She is expected to give another reading at the Bleiche in April. She will then work on her 3rd book there at the invitation of the Spreewälder Kulturstiftung. She is the winner of the Spreewälder-Literaturstipendium. Karosh Taha: “I’m so grateful for the invitation – and I’m also excited about the Spreewald, I haven’t had the opportunity to experience it yet, it seems like it’s something very special, as my surroundings told me.”

Karosh Taha; In the Queen’s Belly, DuMont Buchverlag Cologne, ISBN 978-3-8321-6608-3

Peter Becker, 15.01.26