Stefan Weidner

Stefan Weidner was born in 1967 in Cologne. As a student, he traveled to North Africa and had his first experiences with Muslim societies. He studied Arabic Studies, German Studies, and Philosophy in Göttingen, Damascus, Berkeley, and Bonn.

From 2001 until its final issue in 2016, Weidner was editor-in-chief of the magazine Fikrun wa Fann, published by the Goethe-Institut, which promoted dialogue between Western and Islamic cultures. He has translated numerous Arabic poets, including Adonis and Mahmoud Darwish.

His book 1001 Books (2019) offers a comprehensive overview of literature from the Islamic world. His 2021 publication Ground Zero: 9/11 and the Birth of the Present analyzes the global impact of 9/11. In December 2024, The Arabic Diwan. The Most Beautiful Poems from Pre-Islamic Times was published in the “Other Library” series. His upcoming book Yoga. The Gentle Conquest of the West by the East will be published by Hanser Verlag in September 2025.

For his work, Weidner has received the Clemens Brentano Prize, the Johann Heinrich Voss Prize, the Paul Scheerbart Prize, and the Sheikh Hamad Award from Qatar. He is a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature.