Yiza

Michael Köhlmeier / Translated by Ruth Martin

‘A dark gem of a story’ 
New York Times

‘A short masterpiece, as always with this most gifted of writers’
Süddeutsche Zeitung

‘A book of elementary power.’
Stern

‘Simultaneously bleak and hopeful, Michael Köhlmeier’s Yiza traverses the expansive landscape of human suffering as seen through the eyes of displaced migrant children.’
Foreword Reviews

‘Köhlmeier writes in a simple language and structure that suits the subject and contrasts well with the gravity of the reality around them.’
World Literature Today

 

Not long after her arrival in Germany, six-year old Yiza is abandoned at the market. Surrounded by strangers and unable to speak their language, she is left to wander the wintery streets alone. At a shelter for migrant children she meets two boys and together they run away into an uncertain life, subsisting on the margins of society and doing whatever it takes to survive.

Narrated in simple language and with an innocence that belies its social reality, Yiza is a pertinent and timely tale of displacement and suffering.

MICHAEL KÖHLMEIER is an Austrian writer and musician. His works of fiction have met with considerable critical acclaim and his many awards include the Manès Sperber Prize for Literature and the Grimmelshausen Prize. He is the author of The Statesman and the Tramp and Two Gentlemen on the Beach.

RUTH MARTIN is a freelance literary and academic translator, with a particular interest in history, philosophy and psychology.

Additional information

Authors

Category

Format

Published Date

ISBN

9781910376751

Pages

111

£10.00