Michael Obert

Michael Obert ( born April 30, 1966 in Breisach am Rhein ) is a German journalist and author. He became famous for his bestselling rain spell in which he describes his seven -month journey from the source to the mouth of the Niger in West Africa.

Fiction

Michael Oberts prose works devoted primarily to the topic of traveling as well as the description of alien worlds from the Interior. His work is drawn from numerous extended trips to Africa, Latin America and in the Islamic world, Central Asia and the South Pacific.

The literature review compares it to Bruce Chatwin, Jon Krakauer and Ryszard Kapuściński and writes that he was " a gentle adventurer, a brave traveler, and, most importantly, a gifted, a passionate, a great storyteller. "

The author is known for his extraordinary live performances, in which he combines the classic reading from his books with elements of theater, performance and the art of free storytelling.

Journalistic work

His award-winning reportage and photographs, among other things published in Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine, Time Magazine, Time, GEO, Greenpeace magazine and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Even international media to publish his works, including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Journal ( New York), GQ France, Courrier International, The Magazine and Sunday newspaper ( Zurich ), Dagens Næringsliv (Oslo ) and Himal South Asian ( Kathmandu ).

Film

Song From the Forest is Michael Oberts directorial debut, a documentary film about the American Louis Sarno, who has lived 25 years in the central African rain forest under Bayaka Pygmies and undertakes with his son, the pygmy Samedi, a trip to New York City. Song From the Forest premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2013, and there received the main prize, the Award for Best Feature -Length Documentary.

Bibliography

  • Chatwin's Guru and myself. My search for Patrick Leigh Fermor (2009 Malik Verlag), ISBN 978-3890293714
  • Good smoke, bad smoke, in: travel to the doctor ( 2009 National Geographic Publishing ) ISBN 978-3890297538
  • The edges of the world. Patagonia, Timbuktu, Bhutan & Co. (2008 Malik Verlag) ISBN 978-3890293530
  • South of silence, among others; in: Travel. Impressions (2007 belleville Verlag) ISBN 978-3936298611
  • Bakassi Boys, in: window to the parallel world ( 2006 Publisher iz3w ) ISBN 978-3922263234
  • Rain spell. On the River of Gods (2003 Droemer Verlag) ISBN 978-3426273159
  • Lebanon. Arts and Culture (2000 Belser Verlag) ISBN 978-3763022540
  • Oasis of secret desires, including, in: The most beautiful travel reports (2000 Werd Verlag ) ISBN 978-3859323292
  • Persia. Culture and Art between East and West (1999 Belser Verlag) ISBN 978-3763022519
  • Faces of Islam. Selected Trip Reports from the Islamic world (1999 Nomad Publishing ) ISBN 978-3980653800

Filmography

  • 2013: Song From the Forest, written and directed - Documentary, World Premiere: International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2013.

Awards (selection)

  • 2013: IDFA Award for Best Feature -Length Documentary for Song From the Forest, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2013
  • 2013: Otto-Brenner Prize for critical journalism for reportage in the realm of death on human trafficking and torture of African migrants in the Sinai ( Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin 29/2013 )
  • 2013: Lighthouse Award for outstanding journalistic achievements
  • 2013: Nominated for the News Reporting Award of the European Press Prize
  • 2013: Hansel Mieth Prize (10 best) for The Mayor of Hell (Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin 16/2012 )
  • 2012: German Reporter Award in the category Best free report
  • 2012: Hansel Mieth Prize (10 best) for reportage, the blood of the revolution on the Arab Spring in Egypt. (Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin 22/2011 )
  • 2011: Hansel Mieth Prize (10 best) for reportage, the largest Pygmy over the Americans Louis Sarno, who has lived with the pygmies in the Central African rain forest for 25 years. ( TIME Magazine 3/11)
  • 2009: Sangam House Writers' Residency, Pondicherry, India
  • 2009: Hansel Mieth Prize (10 best) for the report Children chocolate on child labor in the cocoa plantations of the Ivory Coast ( Greenpeace Magazin 3/2009)
  • 2008: Ledig House Writers' Residency, New York
  • 2008: Herbert Breiter scholarship, Greece
  • 2005: Globetrotter Literature Prize for Regenzauber
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