Martin R. Dean and Maya Olah
Photo: Maia Wackernagel
Martin R. Dean: Born in 1955 in Menziken, Aargau, the son of a Swiss woman and a Trinidadian of Indian descent (Trinidad & Tobago). Studied German language and literature, ethnology and philosophy in Basel. Worked as a part-time teacher at Muttenz grammar school. 1988–1989 scholarship holder at the Istituto Svizzero di Roma, 1992–1993 city observer of Zug, 1997 poet in residence at the Gesamthochschule Essen. Many years of writing courses at the CAS programme of the Institute Littéraire Suisse in Biel/Bienne, creative writing courses at the SAL in Zurich and at the Literaturhaus Basel. Eight years as a member of the jury for the Canton of Zurich’s literature funding programme, member of the jury for the City of Zurich’s literature funding programme since 2022. Private mentoring and work as a writer and essayist in Basel. Latest publications: Verbeugung vor Spiegeln. Essay über das Fremde und Eigene, 2015; Warum wir zusammen sind. Roman, 2019; Der Sommer in dem ich Schwarz wurde. With Angélique Beldner; Ein Stück Himmel. Roman. 2022.
Photo: Flavio Karrer
Maya Olah, born in 1990, grew up in St. Gallen. She studied German linguistics, literature and ethnology in Zurich and Vienna. Her radio plays and short stories have been broadcast on the radio and published in literary magazines, and she has given numerous readings at home and abroad. She is currently working on her debut novel and realising an interdisciplinary project that takes up a dance of death. A literary publication and a dance performance are planned. She works as a secondary school teacher in Zurich; her mother tongues are German and Spanish.
Project
A two-headed monster stands on a plaque next to the skeleton of the Siamese twins Rita and Cristina. They are exhibited amongst animal bones at the Natural History Museum in Paris. Valentina, the first-person character in the novel, stands mesmerised. From now on, she dreams about them almost every night. Valentina follows the twins’ story, which leads her to autopsy reports of dubious medical experiments and public displays. During her research, she almost forgets the reason why she really came to Paris: to reconnect with her own twin sister. It is a story about the closeness and distance between two people, but also a journey through the history of medicine in Europe. The exchange in the mentoring session enables reflection on the narrative voice and how the life of the Siamese twins should be told.
