Lately, I was talking to someone writing an anthology of Turkish literature. Soon we got to talk about authors living and writing in other countries then Turkey, having a Turkish background. Are they still Turkish authors or are they German / Dutch / British authors depending on the country they live in? Then I remembered the book title as quoted and found it time to introduce an author, writing in German with Turkish roots.

Emine Sevgi Özdamar was born in Malatya, Turkey. Already at an early stage in her life she felt an urge to work at the theatre. She wanted to become an actress and was part of a youth theatre in Instanbul for six years. When she was 19, she left school to go to work in a factory in Berlin, Germany. Her aim was to earn enough money to study acting in Istanbul since her parents disagreed to pay for it. During her first time in Germany she came into contact with Bertolt Brecht's texts which had a long lasting influence on her. After finishing drama school in 1970 in Istanbul, she had various parts in professional theatre productions in Turkey. Yet, being inspired by texts by Bertolt Brecht and Heinrich Heine, Özdamar returned to Germany in 1976 and went to work at the 'Volksbühne' in East-Berlin. Here she worked with Brecht's pupil Benno Besson and later went on tour with a Brecht production through France. In 1979, Özdamar became a member of the German theatre company 'Bochumer Schauspielhaus' led by Claus Peymann. Under his supervision she wrote her first play in 1982: "Karagöz in Alamania" (Blackeye in Germany), which she directed in 1986 at the 'Frankfurter Schauspielhaus'. Her engagement in Bochum ended in 1984 and she moved to Berlin in 1986 where she is still living. Next to her acting parts in theatres and films, she also writes plays, novels and poems mainly focusing on her life in Germany inspiring many Turkish/German authors. In 2007, she became a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry, an academy for the preservation, representation and promotion of the German language and literature. A quote from the author: "I have become happy living with the German language. Maybe that's why I write in German."