On May 3, at 6 PM, Deutsches Haus at NYU presents readings by acclaimed authors Sasha Marianna Salzmann (currently the Max Kade writer-in-residence at Deutsches Haus at NYU) and Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, from their latest works, followed by a conversation – with a thematic focus on writing in times of turmoil and war – with Ulrich Baer (NYU).

Sasha Marianna Salzmann is a playwright, novelist, curator, and director. They were the co-founder of the culture magazine freitext and the artistic director of STUDIO Я. Salzmann also co-founded NIDS – New Institute for Drama, where they gave workshops on political writing. Their theatrical work is translated, shown, and awarded in over 20 countries. In 2017, Salzmann finished their first novel, Beside Myself, which was translated into 16 languages and won two major German awards for best debut novel. Beside Myself was on the short list for the German Book Prize 2017, Premio Strega Europeo 2019, and Central European Literature Award ANGELUS. In 2021, their second novel Im Menschen muss alles herrlich sein was also nominated for the German Book Prize.

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh is the author, most recently, of the story collection, American Estrangement, a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize. His memoir, When Skateboards Will Be Free, was selected as one of the 10 best books of the year by Dwight Garner of The New York Times, and his story collection, Brief Encounters With the Enemy, was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Fiction Prize. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Atlantic, The Best American Short Stories, Granta, and McSweeney’s, among other publications. He is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award for nonfiction and a Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers’ fiction fellowship. He teaches creative writing at NYU, where he received an outstanding teaching award.

Ulrich Baer (moderator) is a University Professor at New York University where he teaches literature and photography. His books include Remnants of Song: The Experience of Modernity in Charles Baudelaire and Paul Celan; Spectral Evidence: The Photography of Trauma; The Rilke Alphabet; What Snowflakes Get Right: Free Speech, Equality and Truth in the University, and, as editor and translator, The Dark Interval: Rilke’s Letters on Loss, Grief and Transformation; the German edition of Rainer Maria Rilke's Prose, and, with Amir Eshel, Hannah Arendt zwischen den Disziplinen. He hosts the ideas podcast, Think About It, and has published editions of numerous classic books with Warbler Press.