Taqi Akhlaqi

Taqi Akhlaqi was born in Afghanistan in March 1986. He was still a child when his family emigrated to Iran, where he went to school. He returned to Afghanistan with his family in 2004 and studied international relations at a private university in Kabul.

His love of literature has kept him reading and writing for the past twenty years and helped him survive the Afghanistan war conditions. He has received several awards and recognitions for his work of fiction.

His most recent book, Someone Understands the Germans, is about his first travel to Germany/Europe in 2016 (Sujet Verlag, 2024). His debut novel "Kabul 1400" (originally written in Farsi/Dari), was published by Borj Publishing in Iran in August 2023. In 2018, his short story collection Out of the Blue (bilingual, German, and Farsi) was published by Edition Tethys in Potsdam. His play "One cannot fight without tea" (German) is staged in Krefeld and Mönchengaldbach in 2024.

He regularly reports on the situation in Afghanistan for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Since September 2021, after the return of the Taliban, he has been living with his family as a freelance writer in Berlin.

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

An incidental love

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What do you love about Berlin?

the long dark winters in Berlin, which are perfect for writing.

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What do you miss in Berlin?

the cheap cabs and restaurants in Kabul

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What is your favorite spot in Berlin?

Gemeindepark Lankwitz

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

The deep sense of (physical and mental) security in Berlin has made me a different person. The self-censorship is slowly fading as my vocabulary is expanding.

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Which existing literary work do you wish you had written?

"Thus spoke Zarathustra"

Fellowship program Weltoffenes Berlin, 2023
Artists-in-Berlin of DAAD, 2022
Schöppingen Artists' Village, 2020
Heinrich Böll House Langenbroich, 2015
Letter of appreciation from the Ministry of Information and Culture of Afghanistan for writing short stories, 2009