Born north of Izmir (Turkey) on 25.09.1960, Osman Engin came as a twelve-year-old boy to Germany in 1973. He studied social studies at Bremen and graduated in 1989.

Between 1983 and 2003, Osman Engin wrote satirical short stories every month for the city magazine “Der Bremer” (”The Bremener)”, after which he switched to the Hamburg magazine “Oxmox”. He has already published twelve books. “Kanaken-Gandhi” is so far the most successful and will soon be made into a film. His newest book, “A Turkish Christmas”, came out last year.

Osman hopes through his satires to make the reader aware of injustices in society. He wants to provoke reflection. At the same time, he wants to tackle the issue of German-Turkish relations. “The Germans would call it holding up a mirror,” he says.

Last year, Engin recieved the ARD Media prize for his satire I am the Pope. This is an important acknowledgment of his work. His satire, according to the jury, “makes fun of everyday prejudices and clichés.” He wonders, admittedly, what Germany’s Turkish population thinks of his literary work. “The best recognition of my satires is the laughter of my audience,” grins Osman.

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Muhsin Omurca, who’s been living in Germany since 1979 was born in Bursa/Turkey. He’s one of the founding members of the first Turkish cabaret KNOBI BONBON in Germany. He wrote and acted in many plays which are based on Turkish-German relations, identities, assimilation problems and cultural differences.

When he first presented his satirical shows, it was still not quite politically correct to make fun of German-Turkish prejudices. Today, he is one of the true founders of migrant comedy in Germany and enjoys greater success more than ever before with his prize winning “Kanakmän” (Turkman) and “Tagebuch eines Skinheads in Istanbul” (A Skinhead’s Diary in Istanbul) he has again succeeded in creating an intellectually stimulating and yet hilarious programme with his “The EUmans Are Coming“, about the Turks’ willingness to enter into a marriage with the EU.

Website: www.omurca.de

Serdar Somuncu, a Turkish citizen, was born on June 03, 1968 in Istanbul, Turkey. He studied acting, directing, and music in Maastricht, Netherlands and Wuppertal, Germany.

Since 1985, he has been permanently busy in these areas.

Aside from his participation in diverse movies, television series and other broadcasts (Lindenstrasse, Die Anrheiner, Schwarz Greift ein, etc.) Somuncu has created more than a hundred theatre pieces and has acted in countless
productions, for example, in Bochum, Bremen, Oberhausen and recently in Mozart’s “Escape from the Serail” at the opera house in Münster.

Since 1987, he had been the leader of the Kammerensemble Neuss.

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Funda is a versatile cabaret artist: alert, spontaneous, obstinate and up to date. From time to time provocative on the political and social field, with of course the necessary dose of humor. All qualities, that are in fact indispensable for a cabaret artist.

Funda Müjde is known to the general public for her leading part in the award-winning movie Julia’s geheim, but as well for her parts in TV series like Medisch Centrum West, Vrouwenvleugel and Zeg ‘ns Aaaa and more recently Hallo Holland. In addition to this, she appears in the ‘Telegraaf’ (one of leading Dutch newspapers) every Friday with her column.

She doesn’t mince her words in her own theater plays either.

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Nilgün Yerli was born on 11 November 1969 in Kirsehir, Turkey. She moved to the Netherlands at age 10 with her parents, and grew up in Steenwijkerwold.

Her parents returned to Turkey when Yerli was fifteen. She moved to Haarlem, where she went to high school, and supported herself by working at different small jobs.

With a friend, she began the duo ‘Turkish Delight’. In 2000, Yerli started her solo program ‘Wat zeg ik?’(What say I?) in the theater, followed with the show ‘Vreemde vreemdgangers’ (Strange Cheaters) in 2001.

When Nilgün Yerli moved to the Netherlands, she had no idea of what she had gotten herself into. There were so many things that she had never seen, heard, felt, or tasted in Turkey. A coffee maker, a birthday calendar on the bathroom wall, “zwarte piet”, hiding Easter eggs, dog poop on the street, “Dutch treat”, wooden shoes, peanut butter, licorice, and last but not least, bologna rolled in a pickle.

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