Necla Kelek was born in Istanbul in 1957 and moved to Germany at the age of 10.
Kelek studied economics and sociology in Hamburg and and conferred a doctorate on the subject “Islam in Every Day Life.”
Her books include Die fremde Braut (The Foreign Bride) about arranged and forced marriages of Turkish migrants, which won the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis in 2005, and Die verlorenen Söhne (Lost Sons) about the socialization, violence, and the faith of Turkish-Muslim men.