The Outsider

Khider fled Iraq in ‘96 and between ‘96 and ‘99 he sought refuge illegally in several countries,finally settling in Germany in 2000. It’s Khider’s own journey in 150 pages,one that took him three years to write. While the narrative is essentially autobiographical,Khider is quick to point out that it’s tough to write one’s story,as you tend to forget too much. “Then comes in fantasy,a new life,a new story and a chance to rediscover oneself,” says Khider.

For him the process of writing the novel,he admits,was both painful and joyous. As for the title of the book,Der Falsche Inder,the 38-year-old author explains that many times he was detained by the police in Iraq for he did not look like an Iraqi citizen. Only when he would tell them about his family,the intricate details of streets and places which only an Iraqi would know,would he be let off. “Suspicion and mistrust,it all ruled,” remarks Khider with a faraway look in his eyes.

In the novel,it’s Rasul Hamid,the protagonist,who tells this story. The feeling of belonging nowhere is the core of the journey. “In the ‘90s I was imprisoned for two years and it’s here that I saw misery so closely,” Khider says that he considers it his personal duty to write about truth without fear and criticise without censorship. “I am the ambassador of the dead,who didn’t live to tell their stories and my characters carry this message,” adds Khider. In the novel Hamid describes in eight different ways,how he fled Iraq and tried to live as a refugee.

For someone who knew no more than three words of German,Khider has won the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize for the Most Promising Young Writer in 2010. The Chamisso is open to authors whose mother tongue and cultural background are non-German and whose works make an important contribution to German literature. “Literature and language is the last freedom,and I cherish them more than anything,” he says.