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Zeit der Monster
Restlessly, Sanya roams the streets of her neighborhood, always with her backpack containing old photos, a pistol, and a silver cup whose secret no one yet knows. Sanya isn’t alone—no one is in her neighborhood: there’s Mira, the head of the family and mastermind of the neighborhood, and her son Yousip, who chases shady deals while guarding his small child Adad like the apple of his eye. There’s Yousip’s sister Nabû, who, in search of a better world, has vanished without a trace, and Pastor Angelo, to whom all quests for happiness and security have long since begun to seem doubtful.
Sanya and her fascinating chosen family are deeply entangled in the story of their community, stretching across borders and time. Somewhere between furious epic and the most colorful pop, between existential opera and the warmest soap, ZEIT DER MONSTER asks what chances lie in the collapse of all orders. Can we live differently? This novel says: yes.
“What a tribute to so many lives that were never told.”
“I’d completely forgotten what it’s like to fall into a great novel. Now I’m reading again, thanks to this powerful, intelligent, and unsparing story of belonging, loss, and the question of who can be saved when the world begins to tip.”
“Reading it was an almost physical experience—I was that gripped. This is an important novel for our times. Something in this masterpiece is deeply anchored in all of us.”
“ZEIT DER MONSTER hits German-language literature like a meteorite.”
“A book about humanity in monstrous times—shimmering, vivid, absurdly smart.”
Play*Review.
Critical perspectives on video games under capitalism
To what extent do video games and their culture reflect societal power relations? What challenges does the gaming industry face and what structural mechanisms shape it? How can virtual worlds open up utopian spaces of possibility? For the first time in the German-speaking world, the contributions in this anthology, which I co-edited with media scholars Holger Pötzsch and Thomas Spies, bring together critical perspectives on video games. They examine prevailing ideologies as well as the production and use of a medium whose societal relevance is steadily growing. The contributions find approaches through art, academia, and journalism. Published in March 2024 by transcript.
HATE
On the power of a resistant feeling
I bring hate back from exile and trace its resistant potential. I’m especially interested in people as subjects of hate in a capitalist, racist, and patriarchal world. Who are they, these haters, and what power relations do they come from? Who is allowed to hate at all—and who isn’t? Which feelings paralyze, and which feelings help us not to freeze, but to keep moving, again and again, on the path toward a more just and tender society? Published in March 2023 by Harper Collins Germany.
“After her second book, Kurt is likely to be remembered as one of the most interesting young authors in this country.”
“Şeyda Kurt offers smart food for thought. It’s worth engaging with it.”
“‘Hate’ is a revolutionary book in the best sense.”
Radical Tenderness
Why love is political
In Radical Tenderness, I examine (romantic) love in the tension between capitalism, patriarchy, and racism. And I look ahead, asking about the visions and utopias of a radical tenderness as a program of justice and solidarity. Published in April 2021 by Harper Collins Germany.
“It’s great fun to let her turn your head.”
“A highly topical and well worth reading plea for a new form of love.”
“The long-awaited breakthrough—condensed into 215 well-researched and even better-written pages.”