The award winning writer Tash Aw in conversation with Mathias Zeiske

In Strangers on a Pier, acclaimed author Tash Aw explores the panoramic cultural vitality of modern Asia through his own complicated family story of migration and adaptation, which is reflected in his own face. From a taxi ride in present-day Bangkok, to eating Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1980s Kuala Lumpur, to his grandfathers' treacherous boat journeys to Malaysia from mainland China in the 1920s, Aw weaves together stories of insiders and outsiders, images from rural villages to megacity night clubs, and voices in a dizzying variety of languages, dialects, and slangs, to create an intricate and astoundingly vivid portrait of a place caught between the fast-approaching future and a past that won't let go.

Tash Aw currently resides in Berlin as a fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program and his memoir Strangers on a Pier has just been published in German translation by Luchterhand. Two good opportunities to talk to him. The conversation will be moderated by Mathias Zeiske, Head of Literature and Film of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.

Autor

Tash Aw was born to Malaysian parents in Taiwan and grew up in Kuala Lumpur. He studied law in the UK, published several novels and was honored with numerous awards, including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Whitbread First Novel Award, and was longlisted twice for the Man Booker Prize. His work has been translated into 23 languages. Tash Aw lives primarily in Provence and writes commentaries on culture and politics in Southeast Asia for the New York Times and the BBC, among others.