Alpenglow is a semi-finalist in the Creative Screenwriting Magazine's Unique Voices Screenplay Competition. Alpenglow is the idea and TV pilot for a dark comedy series set in the Swiss Alps. More soon about this new project of mine. Want to read the pilot and series bible? Send me an email.

Meet me in Florence for book discussions and a memoir writing workshop with the fabulous Kamin Mohammadi organized by Florence Writers at St. Marks (via Maggio, 16). 'Crossing Borders and Boundaries' - Kamin and I will be in conversation with David Orr at 6pm, Thursday June 6, 2019 'Structure you Memoir' - writing workshop (details here) from 10am to 1pm, Saturday, June 8, 2019. #interview #workshop #bookpresentation

When I discuss migration and #acrossthebigbluesea with Italian and foreign students, I often pass around the photo above. It was taken in Switzerland in the early 1970s and shows Italian migrant workers protesting against xenophobia, for the right to be united with their families and for not having to leave the country every 9 months. Photo copyright Raniero Fratini, TV Svizzera. For more pictures and resources on Italian migrant workers' lives in Switzerland click through to

We had a fab time in upstate New York thanks to the great location and wonderful team behind the Wassaic Project. Find out more about the artist residency, our time there as a family and the TV pilot Sergio Fabiani and I started working on in my writer-in-residence interview on the Wassaic Project website. #interview #filmadaptation

I'm currently a writer in residence at the Wassaic Project in upstate New York. I'll be presenting Across the Big Blue Sea at the pub in town (great beer and food too!) on Sunday January 6 and am looking forward to discussing the refugee situation and migration in Europe with my American readers. The Lantern Inn, Wassaic NY (last stop on the Harlem line): Sunday January 6, 2019 - 7 PM #bookpresentation

Across the Big Blue Sea is a Guardian best summer book 2018! "Recently optioned to become a film, Katja Meier’s timely memoir 'Across the Big Blue Sea: Good Intentions and Hard Lessons in an Italian Refugee Home' avoids easy sentiment in favour of honesty and humour. The African women we meet at this Tuscan refugee home are fierce, scared, brave, vulnerable — triumphant yes, but human too. A beautifully complex account." - Taiye Selasi, the Guardian Best Summer Books 2018

Cultural Salon Florence, Thursday May 31, 5 to 7 pm. I'll be discussing migration and Across the Big Blue Sea in Florence after an introduction by Georgette Jupe from Girl in Florence. The event will take place in the secret garden of Palazzo San Niccolò (one of my favorite locations in Florence). If you'd like to attend please RSVP to culturalsalonfirenze@gmail.com. There is a 15€ donation involved (but you'll get your money's worth back in Tuscan wine after the event!). #bo

'AT SECOND GLANCE' by Sheri Hagen Actor and filmmaker Sheri Hagen will be showing and discussing her feature film 'At Second Glance' at the TIFF in Toronto. Sheri Hagen has been invited to present and discuss her film as a contribution to 'Remapping Black Germany - Transnational Perspectives', organized by the University of Toronto, BGHRA and TIFF. Sheri and her Berlin-based production company Equality Film have acquired the film right option for the adaptation of 'Across the

Siena friends, meet me at the SIENA ART INSTITUTE for a discussion of Across the Big Blue Sea and migration (my own and the one of the people I worked with at our Tuscan refugee home). Entrance is for free and the discussion will be followed by a glass of wine and some nibbles (and don't think it's easy to come by a free aperitivo in Siena). #bookpresentation

Spring has sprung and I'm happy to welcome the new season with some good news (and plenty of bubbles to celebrate them). Less than a year after its first publication, the film rights of Across the Big Blue Sea have been optioned by Nigerian German actor, director and producer Sheri Hagen from Berlin-based Equality Film. Apart from her work on screen and behind the camera, Sheri Hagen is a member of 'Black Artists in German Film'and a commentator on diversity and the status of