Ozan Keskinkılıç’s *Dogson* blends poetry and identity in a groundbreaking debut
Ozan Zakariya Keskinkılıç’s debut novel Dogson has won the aspekte Literature Prize for its bold mix of poetry and social commentary. The story follows Zeko, a young man in Berlin navigating love, language, and identity while longing to reunite with his summer love, Hassan, in Turkey. Through Zeko’s journey, the novel challenges rigid boundaries—between cultures, languages, and even literary forms itself.
Zeko, the novel’s protagonist, is a student in Berlin who spends his days reading, swimming, and chatting with his best friend in the university cafeteria. His world shifts when he falls for Hassan during a summer in Turkey, only to return to Germany alone. The distance between them isn’t just physical: Zeko struggles with the linguistic gap, feeling incomplete when speaking Turkish with Hassan, as if words fail to bridge their connection.
The novel mirrors its author’s own layered background. Born in 1989, Keskinkılıç grew up in Hesse, studied political science in Vienna, Berlin, and Cambridge, and now lives in Berlin. Before Dogson—originally titled Hundesohn—he published poems and essays, and his debut carries that lyrical intensity. The book weaves together references to Kafka’s The Castle, the Koran, and queer culture, reflecting Keskinkılıç’s resistance to neat categories. His writing blurs prose and poetry, just as Zeko’s story blurs borders between Germany and Turkey, German and Turkish, self and other. Critics have praised Dogson for its exploration of how language shapes identity. Zeko’s internal conflict—caught between cultures, between Hassan’s world and his own—drives the narrative. The novel doesn’t just tell his story; it immerses readers in his fragmented reality, where literature becomes a tool for survival and self-discovery.
Dogson leaves readers with a clear provocation: to question the divides we accept as fixed. The novel’s success, marked by the aspekte Prize, underscores its resonance in debates about migration, multilingualism, and belonging. For Zeko—and for the reader—identity isn’t a single path but a collage of voices, texts, and unanswered questions.
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