Reporter and war correspondent
Wolfgang Bauer, born in 1970, works for the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. For his reporting, he was awarded, among other honours, the Theodor Wolff Prize and the Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie for war reporting in 2021. His book “Crossing the Sea: With Syrians on the Exodus to Europe” (“Über das Meer”) was a bestseller and has been translated into ten languages. In 2017, he was also nominated for the Ryszard Kapuściński Award for Literary Reportage.
Monday, 18. May 2026, 19:00 – 20:00 h
At Literaturhaus Zurich, Limmatquai 62, 8001 Zürich
Dr Martin Meyer
For many years, Wolfgang Bauer, a reporter for the editorial board of “Die Zeit”, has been reporting from the world’s crisis regions. His travels take him to the Middle East, Ukraine, Afghanistan and the Sahel – places where global conflicts are intensifying. His focus, however, is on human destinies. In 2014, Bauer was kidnapped whilst attempting to cross the Mediterranean undercover with Syrian refugees. This risky undertaking gave rise to the book “Crossing the Sea: With Syrians on the Exodus to Europe” (“Über das Meer”, Suhrkamp 2014), a powerful account of flight and migration. “Stolen Girls” (“Die geraubten Mädchen”, Suhrkamp 2016) tells the story of Nigerian women who were abducted by Boko Haram. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai described the book as one of the five works that have shaped her life. In “Bruchzone” (Suhrkamp 2018), he presents a collection of his reports, and most recently the reporter published “At the End of the Road” (“Am Ende der Strasse. Afghanistan zwischen Hoffnung und Scheitern”, Suhrkamp 2022).
In conversation with Martin Meyer, Wolfgang Bauer talks about his experiences on the front lines of our time and the fragility of human hope in times of crisis...