Yael Inokai is a Swiss author known for exploring social issues through fiction. Writing primarily in German, she has gained recognition for novels such as Stork Bite (2012), Maelstrom (2017) and A Simple Intervention (2022). Her work has won prestigious awards, including the Swiss Literature Prize (2018) and the Anna Seghers Prize (2022).
Yael Inokai, born Yael Pieren in Basel, is the daughter of German and Hungarian parents. In 2011, she studied philosophy in Basel and Vienna, and later, she studied screenwriting at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin.
During these formative years, she was a tour guide and contributed to literary magazines and Zeit Online. Her debut novel, Stork Bite, was published by Rotpunktverlag in 2012 when she was just 22 years old. Reflecting on this milestone, she noted, "I just kept writing and was very lucky to have my first book published by a Swiss publisher."
In 2013, she was awarded a residency scholarship at the Literary Colloquium Berlin, and two years later, she was nominated by the magazine Bella Triste to be the city writer of Hildesheim.
Her second novel, Maelstrom, explores complex interpersonal dynamics and social constraints, for which she was awarded the Swiss Literature Prize in 2018. The same year, she received the Würth Literature Prize (second place) for her short story The Foreigner, which she described as a pivotal moment in her developing writing voice.
Inokai's 2022 novel, A Simple Intervention, marks a significant shift in her literary journey. The story follows a nurse, Meret, who questions her beliefs while witnessing the controversial psychiatric procedures of a doctor she works with. Interwoven with themes of lesbian love and systemic oppression, the novel has drawn comparisons to the works of Kazuo Ishiguro and Juli Zeh.
"I became interested in the history of mental institutions and how women and minorities were treated," Inokai explained. The novel won the Anna Seghers Prize and placed her on the longlist for the German Book Prize and later the Clemens Brentano Prize (2023).
Inokai has also explored short fiction, contributing stories such as The Decent One (2020) and Die Vertreterin (2023), offering a utopian perspective on abortion rights.
Reflecting on her work as a mixture of personal concerns and creative exploration, she says: "When you have a dystopia, the next thing you have to do is think about utopias.
Yael Inokai lives in Berlin and is an editor for the magazine Politisch Schreiben.
Photo credit: www.peirenepress.com
Yael Inokai, born Yael Pieren in Basel, is the daughter of German and Hungarian parents. In 2011, she studied philosophy in Basel and Vienna, and later, she studied screenwriting at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin.
During these formative years, she was a tour guide and contributed to literary magazines and Zeit Online. Her debut novel, Stork Bite, was published by Rotpunktverlag in 2012 when she was just 22 years old. Reflecting on this milestone, she noted, "I just kept writing and was very lucky to have my first book published by a Swiss publisher."
In 2013, she was awarded a residency scholarship at the Literary Colloquium Berlin, and two years later, she was nominated by the magazine Bella Triste to be the city writer of Hildesheim.
Her second novel, Maelstrom, explores complex interpersonal dynamics and social constraints, for which she was awarded the Swiss Literature Prize in 2018. The same year, she received the Würth Literature Prize (second place) for her short story The Foreigner, which she described as a pivotal moment in her developing writing voice.
Inokai's 2022 novel, A Simple Intervention, marks a significant shift in her literary journey. The story follows a nurse, Meret, who questions her beliefs while witnessing the controversial psychiatric procedures of a doctor she works with. Interwoven with themes of lesbian love and systemic oppression, the novel has drawn comparisons to the works of Kazuo Ishiguro and Juli Zeh.
"I became interested in the history of mental institutions and how women and minorities were treated," Inokai explained. The novel won the Anna Seghers Prize and placed her on the longlist for the German Book Prize and later the Clemens Brentano Prize (2023).
Inokai has also explored short fiction, contributing stories such as The Decent One (2020) and Die Vertreterin (2023), offering a utopian perspective on abortion rights.
Reflecting on her work as a mixture of personal concerns and creative exploration, she says: "When you have a dystopia, the next thing you have to do is think about utopias.
Yael Inokai lives in Berlin and is an editor for the magazine Politisch Schreiben.
Photo credit: www.peirenepress.com
years of life: 1989 – present
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