Reading in the Dark II Trivia Quiz

Answer: Miguel Sousa Tavares

Miguel Sousa Tavares (1950) is a Portuguese writer, columnist and journalist. He began his professional life as a lawyer. In the late 1980s, after 12 years in the profession, he left his practice to dedicate himself to journalism and, later, as a novel writer.

"Equator", first published in 2003, was his first novel and a bestseller, which has been translated into more than ten languages. The story begins in 1905, 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. Luis Bernardo, accustomed to life in Lisbon, was not prepared to face the situation of the workers on the cocoa plantations, the colony's principal economic activity at that time, nor to be away from his friends and cultural environment.

Answer: Atiq Rahimi

Atiq Rahimi (1962) was born in Afghanistan, fled to Pakistan during the Soviet invasion, and in 1985 moved to France where he received political asylum. After finishing his studies he worked at a company where he produced seven documentaries and several commercials for French television. In the late 1990s, he began his career as a writer. In 2002, after the fall of the Taliban, Rahimi returned to Afghanistan. Since then he has divided his life between Kabul and Paris. The author has published six books, received the Prix Goncourt, directed three films written by himself, and has numerous projects dedicated to art, especially for the development of the film industry.

His first book, "Earth and Ashes" (2000), became a success and the film based on the book won about 25 awards at festivals, including Cannes. "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 preparatory class at the Ciné-Sup before entering the École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière. She has been working as a filmmaker, screenwriter, and actress since she finished school. 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. In 2023, Laetitia adapted the book into a film that was directed by herself. The book tells the story of three women, from different social situations, who live in three different places - India, Canada, and Italy - who 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. In this book, the main character, Trina, writes a letter to her missing daughter to report events that occurred from the 1920s onwards in Curon, a village located near the border between Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Curon was flooded to form Lake Resia, a reservoir for the installation of a hydroelectric power plant. The residents were forced to relocate further north, without being consulted and 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. His clients included Norbert Juretzko, Günter Schabowski, and the family of actor Klaus Kinski. In 2009 and 2010, Schirach published "Crime" and "Guilt", collections of short stories based on cases from his chambers.

In 2011, von Schirach published "The Collini Case", which immediately, like his previous books, became an international bestseller. This book was the basis for the 2019 film of the same name by director, screenwriter, and producer Marco Kreuzpaintner. The film 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 film tries to clarify the "why-dunit" and this task falls to the young defense attorney Caspar Leinen, who in his youth was a protégé of Meyer.

Answer: Hannah Kent

Hannah Kent (1985) was born and raised in South Australia and received her PhD in creative writing from Flinders University. Her thesis served as the basis for her first novel, "Burial Rites", published in 2013. When the author 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. "Burial Rites" has been translated into more than 30 languages, becoming an international bestseller.

Answer: Celia Imrie

Celia Diana Savile Imrie (1952), known as Celia Imrie, is a British writer and a film, radio, television and theatre actress. Her acting career began in the 1970s. She has appeared in over fifty films and series. She became known for her participation in the "Bridget Jones" film series and "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". I particularly love her participation in "Finding Your Feet" (2017).

Celia is the author of several books, including "Orphans of the Storm" (2021). After intense research, she released this historical fictional book set against the backdrop of the Titanic disaster. It is the story of the "Navratil brothers" (Michel Marcel and Edmond) who were kidnapped by their father and began the voyage on the Titanic with him. The father, Michael Navratil, died in the sinking. He had boarded with a false passport, under the name Louis M. Hoffman, the children booked as John and Fred. The children were rescued without a parent or guardian. The book also tells the drama of the mother's struggle to find the children and obtain authorization to reunite with them in New York, where they were taken after disembarking.

Answer: Frances Itani

The Canadian Frances Susan Itani, (née Hill, 1942) is a poet, essayist and fiction writer. Frances graduated in nursing but, after attending writing classes, 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 work shows the various problems arising from deafness and the difficulties in inclusion: acceptance by the affected person, by family members and the community, and the resources available to facilitate inclusion. 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 the third generation of women writers in her family. She published her first book in 1998. Her seventh novel, "Home Fire" (2017) was well received by critics and 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 takes 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 London and the twins and go to the United States to finish her studies. When Parvaiz was unable to get a scholarship to go to college, he decided to join ISIS, following in his father's footsteps. From then on, the situation for the family and others involved becomes very complicated.

Answer: Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen was born in Israel in 1982, earned a master's degree in Clinical Psychology, studied screenplay, and has been a news editor for Israel's leading newspaper. Her novels, generally set in Israel, do not discuss political issues. Ayelet discusses human issues: how to deal with prejudice, why good people commit bad acts, why people lie.

In "Walking Lions" (2014), one night the honorable neurosurgeon Dr. Eitan Green, tired from work, is driving home when he runs over a person. When he gets out of the car to check what has happened, he sees that the person did not survive the crash and that he was an African immigrant. So the doctor 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 finds out who the driver was and shows up at the hospital to demand of him something that is not money, and second: his wife, who is a police inspector, is in charge of investigating a hit-and-run case. With that, the circle closes in on the good doctor.