A family saga about migration, destiny, gender relations and intersexuality. Cal was born as Calliope, the daughter of a Greek-American family in Michigan. But during puberty, the girl develops more and more male features and Cal finds out that he is intersexual and feels more male than female. He retells the story of his family. […]

Set in Nigeria during the late 19th century, this tragic novel problematises the battle between tradition and change, the role of colonialism, religion and patriarchy. Okonkwo is a respected member of his community, the Igbo people. When white missionaries arrive, Okonkwo’s son, like many others, converts to Christianity. Tensions rise between the natives and the […]

This historical novel about racism, war, the abuse of power and the holocaust, is the kick-off to a series of five: Felix is a 9-year-old Jewish boy hiding in Nazi-occupied Poland 1942. Separated from his parents, he is waiting in an orphanage, under the impression that his parents are just trying to save their book […]

This verse novel explores the author’s childhood in South Carolina and New York in the 1960s and 1970s: Growing up as an African American woman both with the aftermath of Jim Crow laws and the beginning Civil Rights movement. Her poems feature topics of racism, religion, spiritualism, family, history and the power of memory, storytelling, […]

This movie drama (based on the novel Q and A) revolves around family, friendship and fate: Jamal grows up as a poor beggar in India but when he is 18 years old he finds himself as contestant in ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ nonetheless. Neither the show’s host nor the viewers can easily believe […]

A young readers’ novel about bullying, peer pressure, acceptance, diversity and friendship: Muncle Trogg is a giant, albeit a tiny one. In fact, he is so small that all the other giants make fun of him. So Muncle Trogg sneaks away to study the creatures which look most like him: humans, aka Smallings. One particular […]

A family tragedy of disenfranchisement, idealism, race relations as well as broken dreams set in an ‘all-black’ neighbourhood in 1950’s Pittsburgh. Troy, who works as a garbage man, has a wife and two sons. They live in a house that Troy bought using the compensation money his brother received for being shot in the head […]

These five verses explore a child’s perspective on the topic of migration with vivid images of flying, blossoming and dancing comparing its situation with a trapped bird concluding in the and that… “…I see I am a transplanted sapling, here, blossoming.”

This short story from the realm of magical realism problematises resentment, prejudice and peer pressure. Ken Liu’s fantasy story depicts the struggle of a woman with a migrant background between retaining her ‘old’ identity and simultaneously adopting a new one. Her son Jack re-tells several episodes of their lives, showcasing his mother’s special talent: When […]

A thrilling metafictional novel about identity, ideals, racism, terrorism, American patriotism and imperialism, loyalty and distrust. Frame narrative: On a single afternoon at a Lahore café, Changez, a Pakistani man tells an unnamed American stranger about his life: Beginning with his elite education at Princeton and continuing into professional success in glittering New York City. […]

This dystopian novel leads the reader down a dark path towards the perils of religion and oppressive patriarchy. A religious shift in the US-American government calling itself the ‘Pure Movement’ results in women being stripped of their voices: Handcuffs every woman has to wear count their spoken words and if the daily number exceeds 100, […]

This 19th century best-selling novel about human trafficking, violence and slavery follows Tom, a middle-aged, enslaved African-American slave. As Tom is sold again and again, his life fully depends on the mercy and goodwill of his current owner… The novel is praised for having laid the groundwork for the abolition of slavery, but also harshly […]

A story about the Troubles in Ireland and an unemployed teenager caught in a bloody conflict. Cal is a member of the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland. Like his peers, he goes to school but unlike his peers, he occasionally works as a driver for the Irish Republican Army IRA. This way he becomes complicit […]

A dystopian novel about conformity and otherness set in a world where every teenager is transformed from an “ugly” into a “pretty” with the help of extreme cosmetic surgery when they turn 16. 15-year-old Tally can’t wait, but her friends Shay and David show her the downsides of their society, which causes her to rebel. […]

This novel portrays abuse, resilience, violence and a girl fighting for her rights. The story follows 15-year-old Aiyana’s escape from a brutal patriarchal riverboat community in Arkansas in the 1930s. Having been denied any education and having suffered from her abusive father, this young heroine sets out to flee with only her grandmother and brother […]

A dystopian novel on gender, sex, fertility, rebellion, and love. In the near future, most women have become infertile and the USA have transformed into a theocracy where women are either the wives of party officials, supposed to take care of the household, or have to take part in a bizarre ritual. Offred is one […]

A novel about fate and egotism, hatred and bigotry. Cándido and América are a married couple from Mexico, living unregistered in the suburbs of Los Angeles. One day Cándido is hit by the car of Delaney, a liberal middle-class white man, who reimburses him with a twenty-dollar bill. With Cándido being injured and unable to […]

A comedy of manners on the constraints of morality, the importance of lineage, Victorian values and hypocrisies. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff are two wealthy gentlemen who invent fictional characters as an excuse to leave their respective home – a strategy known as ‘Bunburying’. Jack intends to marry Algernon’s cousin Gwendolen Fairfax. To see her […]