Akif Pirinçci

Akif Pirinçci — Biography

Writing in German, the Turkish-born Akif Pirinçci works as both a writer and a screenwriter. He is known for two very different reasons: the international success of his Felidae crime novels narrated by cats, and, since the mid-2010s, the widespread controversy in Germany over his political views and his convictions.

At twenty, in 1980, he self-published his first novel, a love story, Tränen sind immer das Ende. His real breakthrough was Felidae in 1989, which was named one of the year's best crime novels in Germany; sequels followed, including Francis, Cave Canem, Das Duell, Salve Roma! and Schandtat, and in 1994 he contributed to the script of the animated film adaptation. He also wrote other novels such as Der Rumpf and Yin, and a book on cat behaviour. From 2012 he spoke at right-wing populist and anti-Islam events, and in 2014 collected his essays in the book Deutschland von Sinnen.

After his speech at a Pegida rally in Dresden in October 2015, his publishers terminated their contracts, and Amazon and wholesalers removed his books from sale. German courts have convicted him several times, including for incitement to hatred; in 2021 the Dresden Regional Court sentenced him to four months in prison and three years of probation.