A Child in Purgatory

Livaneli’s literary debut: eight short stories on exile and borders.

Drawing on the experiences of Turks who went to Europe as workers or political refugees from the 1960s onward, the stories move between Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Turkey, tracing the cultural tensions of displaced lives.

First published in Turkish as Arafat’ta Bir Çocuk (1978). Translated into German as Ein Kind im Fegefeuer (Ararat Verlag, 1983); the title story was adapted for television by Swedish and German broadcasters.