A Literary Tribute to Franz Kafka

Burhan Sönmez is the author of six novels. He is president of PEN International and a Senior Member of Hughes Hall College and Trinity College, University of Cambridge. His novels have been translated into forty-eight languages and received international prizes, including the EBRD Literature Prize and Vaclav Havel Center Award. He was born in Turkey and grew up speaking Turkish and Kurdish. He worked as a lawyer in Istanbul before going to Britain for political reasons and living there in exile for several years. He has been on the judging panel of various events, including Inge Feltrinelli Prize and Geneva International Film Festival and written for press such as La Repubblica, Der Spiegel and The Guardian. He has translated the poetry book of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake into Turkish. Having written five novels in Turkish, he began to write in his mother tongue, Kurdish, with his last novel Lovers of Franz K. He lives between Cambridge and Istanbul.

Preti Taneja FRSL is a British writer, screenwriter, educator, and broadcaster renowned for her inventive blend of literary artistry and social engagement. She is Professor of World Literature and Creative Writing at Newcastle University and Director of the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts (NCLA). Her debut novel, We That Are Young (2017), reimagines King Lear in modern India. It won the 2018 Desmond Elliott Prize and was shortlisted for multiple international awards.