January, February, March | 1997

SAID

Literature

SAID (born Said Mirhadi, May 27, 1947, Tehran – May 15, 2021, Munich) was one of the most influential voices in contemporary German-language literature and a vital bridge between cultures. Arriving in Munich as a seventeen-year-old political science student in 1965, he briefly returned to Iran after the fall of the Shah in 1979. However, the rise of theocratic rule under Khomeini made a new beginning in his homeland impossible. SAID remained in exile in Germany, which he came to regard as his “second home,” and became a German citizen in 2004.

From the early 1980s onward, SAID established himself as a poet, essayist, and storyteller writing in German. His work revolves around themes of exile, language, homeland, love, and spirituality—always marked by a lyrical mediation between East and West. SAID was not only a literary figure but also a committed advocate for human rights: he served as vice president and, from 2000 to 2002, as president of the German PEN Center, as well as a representative for the Writers in Prison Committee, championing persecuted writers worldwide.

His literary and civic contributions earned him numerous honors, including the Civis Radio Prize, the City of Heidelberg’s “Literature in Exile” Award, a Villa Aurora Fellowship, the Hermann Kesten Medal, the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize, the Goethe Medal, the Literary Prize of the Free German Authors’ Association, and the Federal Cross of Merit.

SAID’s books have been translated into many languages and published internationally. He considered the German language his literary home, profoundly shaping the image of exile in contemporary German literature.

SAID lived in Munich until his death in 2021 and remains remembered as a poetic voice of exile and a mediator between cultures.