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Hensli Rahn Solórzano

Author

Foto: Carsten Meltendorf
© Hensli Rahn Solórzano

Profile

Born: 30.3.1982
Birthplace:
Country of birth:
Lives in: Berlin,


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Vita

Hensli Rahn Solórzano, born 1982 in Venezuela, is a writer and musician. He has published two story collections to date: Dinero fácil ("Easy Money", Libros del Fuego, 2014), selected by the daily El Universal as the best short story collection of the year, and Crónicamente Caracas ("Caracas Chronic", FCU, 2008), which received a special mention in the Premio Transgenérico of the Fundación para la Cultura Urbana. He has received several awards in Venezuela for his short stories. In 2016, Rahn Solórzano was "Writer in residence" of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He lives in Berlin. Twitter: @henslirahn

6 Questions

What brought you to Berlin? Love? World politics? Or was it a coincidence?

For a long time I believed that I had chosen Berlin - and with it, Germany - as a kind of paradise where I would settle: a multifaceted city in a liberal democracy. But the years have shown me that both "love" and "accident" have much more to do with my stay in the city. Soon after arriving, I got a job. I took part again in events in bookshops, published in the digital press and met my wife in the most beautiful café in Mitte. On the other hand, what made me leave Venezuela was not "world politics", but the assured hunger and submission perpetrated by the Venezuelan dictatorship.


What do you love about Berlin?

There are many things, but on this occasion I will mention just a few. The people who stop and close their eyes when they catch a ray of sunlight in the middle of the street. The Woman at the Window in the Old National Gallery. The violet quality of the evening light. A sense of shelter that only the inner courtyards of certain old buildings provide.


What do you miss in Berlin?

The hottest days of summer always make me miss the strawberry or pineapple juice slushies at the Universidad Central de Venezuela.


What is your favorite spot in Berlin?

The Landwehrkanal, because any of its banks is perfect for my daily Wanderung.


Would you say you are a different person in Berlin? A different translator? And if yes, in what way?

Yes, I am fortunate to live changed, or rather enriched, by my adopted city. On a personal level, I think I am different, not so much because I came to Berlin, but because my two children were born here. I don't know if that makes me a different author from the one I was. What I can testify to is the lesson in humility of living a few metro stops from where Nabokov wrote his first novels, and a few more from where Vargas Llosa finished that marvellous book El pez en el agua, to name but two.


Which existing literary work do you wish you had written?

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. There are more works I would have liked to write, but luckily I have been asked for only one, so there it is.

Awards

Special mention in the short story competition of the daily El Nacional, 2014; first place in the 9th edition of the annual competition of the Society of Authors and Composers of Venezuela Sacven, 2013; first place in the 4th edition of the short story competition of the Policlínica Metropolitana, 2010; and special mention in the 5th edition of the annual competition of the Premio Transgenérico of the Fundación para la Cultura Urbana, 2006.


The story collection Dinero fácil was a finalist for the Grand Prix del Congrès des écrivains in Guadalupe in 2015; mention in the list "Diccionario abreviado de cronistas hispanoamericanos" (Short Directory of Hispanic American Chroniclers) in the anthology Mejor que ficción ("Better than Fiction", ed. Anagrama, 2012) edited by Jorge Carrión.