Mahir Guven

Mahir Guven is one of the rising stars of French literature. He has taken an unusual route to get to this point: Guven was born a stateless refugee in a shelter in Nantes, where he grew up in a ‘banlieu’ - a word he would ‘remove from the French language immediately’ if he could, as he stated in an interview. This is a clear indication of where his commitment as an author lies - with the underdog, in the so-called fringes of society.

In his debut novel Grand Frère (Broer, published by Ambo Anthos), Guven takes his reader to Paris, introducing two brothers who both dream of a different life. The eldest drives taxis for Uber, the youngest leaves for Syria on idealist grounds, hoping to serve some humanitarian purpose, only to disappear without a trace. Meanwhile, we follow the elder brother who roams the streets of Paris with growing anxiety: where is his little brother, whose hands did he fall into and what about his own world view?

Mahir Guven (1986, Nantes) is a French author of Turkish-Kurdish descent. His debut promptly won him the prestigious Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman.

During BorderKitchen Mahir Guven will be interviewed (in English) by Margot Dijkgraaf about his work and this new novel. After the interview, Guven will be available to sign books, our favourite bookseller De Vries Van Stockum Den Haag is also present with Dutch and French copies of the book.