Jina Khayyer to Receive the 2025 Mara Cassens Prize
News14.12.2025
Jina Khayyer has been awarded the 2025 Mara Cassens Prize for her debut novel, In the Heart of the Cat. The award is run by the Literaturhaus Hamburg and comes with a €20,000 cash prize. It is the only literary award for a German-language debut novel that is awarded by a jury of everyday readers.
In the jury’s public remarks, they stated: »[In the Heart of the Cat] is eye-opening and informative. It is the coexistence of contradictions that make it so striking: on the one hand, we are taken by the liveliness and loving depiction of nature, the hospitality and vibrancy of the people, their love of freedom and their solidarity, while on the other hand, we get a glimpse of the bitter reality of today’s repressive state and the omnipresence of capricious and unjust government officials, prohibitions, denunciations, and the brutal repression of women and opponents of the regime. But it is not just the content that makes is so convincing but its genuinely poetic sound. It is interspersed with bits of Farsi, which Jina Khayyer translates into German with all the wealth of imagery of the Persian language. Despite the severity of the subject matter, the linguistic intensity leaves the reader feeling at home in this book. A brilliant new narrative voice.«
The award ceremony will take place on 13 January 2026 at Literaturhaus Hamburg, with journalist Judith von Sternburg delivering the public address and Jina Khayyer giving a reading from her book. Previous winners of the Mara Cassens Prize include Dana Vowinckel, Sasha Marianna Salzmann, and Clemens Mayer.
In the jury’s public remarks, they stated: »[In the Heart of the Cat] is eye-opening and informative. It is the coexistence of contradictions that make it so striking: on the one hand, we are taken by the liveliness and loving depiction of nature, the hospitality and vibrancy of the people, their love of freedom and their solidarity, while on the other hand, we get a glimpse of the bitter reality of today’s repressive state and the omnipresence of capricious and unjust government officials, prohibitions, denunciations, and the brutal repression of women and opponents of the regime. But it is not just the content that makes is so convincing but its genuinely poetic sound. It is interspersed with bits of Farsi, which Jina Khayyer translates into German with all the wealth of imagery of the Persian language. Despite the severity of the subject matter, the linguistic intensity leaves the reader feeling at home in this book. A brilliant new narrative voice.«
The award ceremony will take place on 13 January 2026 at Literaturhaus Hamburg, with journalist Judith von Sternburg delivering the public address and Jina Khayyer giving a reading from her book. Previous winners of the Mara Cassens Prize include Dana Vowinckel, Sasha Marianna Salzmann, and Clemens Mayer.