SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Sharon Dodua Otoo is a British writer, editor, and activist based in Berlin. She writes in German and English, and her work explores themes of identity, Afrofuturism, magical realism, empowerment, and social justice.
Born in 1972 in Ilford, London, to Ghanaian parents from Accra, she studied German and Management Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. She moved to Berlin in 2006, where she has lived ever since with her four children.
Alongside her fiction, including the well-known novel Adas Raum (2021), Otoo has published numerous essays and articles on culture, race, and gender, combining literary practice with social activism. She curated the Festival of Black German-language literature Resonanzen from 2022 to 2024 and has long been involved in the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland and the Black feminist organisation ADEFRA, promoting diversity, feminism, and social justice.
Personal website:
Selected honours and awards:
- 2022 — Order of Merit of the State of Berlin
- 2016 — Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, for Herr Gröttrup setzt sich hin
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Micossé-Aikins, Sandrine, and Sharon Dodua Otoo, editors. The Little Book of Big Visions: How to Be an Artist and Revolutionize the World. Edition Assemblage, 2012.
Otoo, Sharon Dodua. Ada’s Realm. Translated by Jon Cho‑Polizzi, MacLehose Press, 2023.
—. Ada’s Room. Translated by Jon Cho‑Polizzi, Riverhead Books, 2023.
—. Adas Raum. S. Fischer, 2021.
—. die dinge, die ich denke, während ich höflich lächle. Edition Assemblage, 2013.
—. Herr Gröttrup setzt sich hin: Drei Texte. S. Fischer, 2022.
—. “Liebe.” In Eure Heimat ist unser Albtraum, edited by Fatma Aydemir and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, Ullstein fünf, 2019.
—. Synchronicity. Illustrated by Sita Ngoumou, Edition Assemblage, 2014.
—. Synchronicity: The Original Story. Illustrated by Sita Ngoumou, Edition Assemblage, 2015.
—. the things i am thinking while smiling politely. Edition Assemblage, 2012.
—. “Whtnacig Pnait (Watching Paint).” In Winter Shorts, edited by Clementine Burnley and Sharon Dodua Otoo, Edition Assemblage, 2015, pp. 67–78.
