Sharon Dodua Otoo

Sharon Dodua Otoo (born in London in 1972) is a writer, political activist and editor of the English-language book series Witnessed (edition assemblage). Her first novellas, die dinge, die ich denke, während ich höflich lächle und Synchronicity, were most recently published in 2017 by S. Fischer Verlag. Otoo won the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 2016 with her text Herr Gröttrup setzt sich hin (Mr Gröttrup sits down). In 2020, she gave the Klagenfurt speech on literature Dürfen Schwarze Blumen Malen? (Are black people allowed to paint flowers?), which was published by Heyn Verlag. Otoo is politically active in the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland e.V. (Initiative of Black People in Germany) and Phoenix e.V. and is associated with the black queer-feminist association ADEFRA. Adas Raum (Ada's Room), her first novel, was published in 2021 by S. Fischer Verlag. In 2022, Gesammeltes Schweigen (Collected Silence) was published by Edition Zweifel, a joint publication with Heinrich Böll, as well as the volume Herr Gröttrup setzt sich hin. Drei Texte (Mr Gröttrup Sits Down. Three Texts) by S. Fischer Verlag. She lives with her family in Berlin and was Schroeder Writer-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge in March 2022.