Reading in the Dark II Trivia Quiz

Answer: Miguel Sousa Tavares

The Portuguese Miguel Sousa Tavares (1950) worked as a lawyer for 12 years before becoming a journalist and writer. The "Equator" (2003), his debut novel, became a bestseller, translated into over ten languages.

The story is set in the early 1900s when Luis Bernardo Valença, a bachelor and member of Lisbon's high society, is invited by Dom Carlos, the King of Portugal, to become governor of the Portuguese colony of Saint Tomé and Principe. What initially promised to be a great opportunity soon became a nightmare because Luis Bernardo was not prepared to face the harsh conditions of the colonial workers and not to be away from his friends and cultural environment.

Answer: Atiq Rahimi

Atiq Rahimi (1962) was born in Afghanistan, and during the Soviet invasion fled to Pakistan. In 1985 he moved to France where he received political asylum and finished his studies. Rahimi produced documentaries and television advertisements and in the late 1990s, he began his career as a writer. In 2002, Rahimi returned to Afghanistan and since then has worked in Kabul and Paris. As of 2024, Rahimi has published six books, received the Prix Goncourt, directed three films written by himself, and has numerous projects in development.

His first book, "Earth and Ashes" (2000), was a success. The film based on the book won about 25 awards at festivals, including Cannes Film Festival. "Earth and Ashes" focuses on the trauma suffered by Dastaguir, an elderly man who, after the destruction of his village and the death of his family, goes with his grandson Yassin to look for his son Murad in the mine where he works.

Answer: Laetitia Colombani

Laetitia Colombani (1976) was born in France and attended the École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière. She has been working as a filmmaker, screenwriter, and actress. As of 2024, she has directed three feature movies, and four short films and acted in more than 15 short television films.

In 2017, her first book, "The Braid", became a publishing phenomenon. Laetitia adapted the book into a film and directed it. The book tells the story of three women, from different social situations. They live in different countries - India, Canada, and Italy - and have different destinies. But at some time their paths cross.

Answer: Marco Bolzano

Marco Bolzano is a writer and literature teacher at a high school in Italy, where he was born in 1978. He has written several books and received numerous awards in Italy.

His 2018 novel "Resto Qui" ("I'm Staying Here") has been translated into several languages. Trina, the protagonist, pens a letter to her missing daughter, reporting events that occurred in Curon, a village nestled on the Swiss-Austrian-Italian border, during the 1920s. Curon was flooded to form a reservoir for the installation of a hydroelectric power plant and the residents were forced to relocate to another area, without receiving adequate compensation.

Answer: Ferdinand von Schirach

The German Ferdinand Benedikt von Schirach (1964) began working as a criminal defense lawyer in Berlin in 1994. In 2009 and 2010, Schirach published "Crime" and "Guilt", collections of short stories based on cases in which he worked.

In 2011, von Schirach published "The Collini Case", which immediately became an international bestseller. This book was the basis for the 2019 film of the same name. It is about the murder of an old industrial magnate, Hans Meyer, a highly respected figure in post-war German society. The killer, Fabrizio Collini, admitted to the crime but refused to state his motive. The defense attorney Caspar Leiden, who in his youth was a protégé of Hans Meyer, tries to discover the reason for Collini to commit the crime, that is, to clarify the "why-dunit".

Answer: Hannah Kent

Hannah Kent (1985) was born and raised in South Australia. When Hannah was 18, she participated in an exchange program and spent time in Iceland. There Hannah learned the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, a young maid accused along with Fridrik Sigurdsson of the murder of two men in March 1828. Both were sentenced to death and executed by beheading in January 1830. Agnes was the last woman put to death in Iceland.

This case served as the basis for Hanna's PhD thesis and later the basis of her international bestseller "Burial Rites", published in 2013.

Answer: Celia Imrie

Celia Diana Savile Imrie (1952), known as Celia Imrie, is a British writer and a film, radio, television and theater actress. Her acting career began in the 1970s. She has appeared in over fifty films and series. She became known for the participation in the "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".

Celia is the author of several books, including "Orphans of the Storm" (2021), a historical fictional book based on the Titanic disaster. The book recounts the story of the "Navratil brothers" who were kidnapped by their father and began the voyage on the Titanic with him. The father, Michael Navratil, who had boarded with a false passport, perished in the disaster. The book explore the brothers rescue and their mother's drama to reunite with them in New York.

Answer: Frances Itani

The Canadian French Susan Itani, (née Hill, 1942) is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer. Although Frances graduated in nursing she decided to be a writer. Since the end of the 1970s, she has published children's books, short stories, poetry, and novels.

Itani's novel "Deafening" (2003), set in the early 20th century, tells the story of Grania, a young girl who, as a result of scarlet fever, lost her hearing. The book discusses deafness-related challenges, focusing on inclusion and acceptance issues for the affected person, families, and communities. In the novel Grania is sent to the School for the Deaf, in a nearby town, making possible a life with new friendships, opportunities, etc.

Answer: Kamile Shamsie

Kamila Shamsie (1973) was born in Pakistan. Her father is an Englishman and her mother is a journalist and editor. Kamila is part of a family of women writers. She published her first book in 1998. Her seventh novel, "Home Fire" (2017) won the 2018 Women's Prize for Fiction.

The novel "Home Fire" follows the members of the Pasha family, a Muslim family living in London and composed of twin siblings, Aneeka and Parvaiz, and their older sister Isma, who has taken care of her siblings since their mother's death. Their father, a jihadi, had died earlier. When the twins were 19, Isma decided to leave the twins and go to the United States to finish her studies. However, Parvaiz, unable to secure a scholarship to attend college, opted to join ISIS, following in his father's footsteps. From then on, things become very difficult for the family and others involved.

Answer: Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen (1982) was born in Israel and has been a news editor for Israel's leading newspaper. Ayelet does not discuss political issues in her books. She discusses some human issues, such as how to overcome prejudice, why good people commit bad acts, and why people lie.

In her book, "Waking Lions" (2014), the neurosurgeon, Dr. Eitan Green, is driving home when he runs over a person. When he checks what has happened, he sees that the person did not survive the crash and that he was an African immigrant. So, Dr. Eitan flees the scene and decides to keep the incident a secret. However, the situation becomes complicated because there are two facts he did not count on. First, the widow discovered who the driver of the hit-and-run was and started blackmailing him, and second: his wife, who is a police inspector, is in charge of investigating the hit-and-run case.