Born in Hamburg in 1971, she studied Applied Cultural Studies in Lüneburg, trained as an interpreter and translator, and completed an apprenticeship. For over ten years, she worked as an interpreter, translator, freelance journalist and lecturer. She was involved in social projects, setting up writing workshops as part of that work, and served as a local equality officer in Lower Saxony. The author has published non-fiction books on the topics forced marriage and women’s rights, as well as a bilingual novel and short stories.
Tanja Dückers, born in West Berlin in 1968, studied German, Dutch, North American Studies and Art History at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Amsterdam. During her studies, she worked as a news and weather scriptwriter for Deutsche Welle TV in Berlin and as an editorial assistant at various publishing houses. She now lives in Berlin with her family, working as a freelance author and journalist. Tanja Dückers has received numerous awards and grants for her work; in 2006, the German Historical Museum in Berlin named her one of Germany’s 10 most important writers under the age of 40 (and one of “Germany’s 100 Most Creative Minds”). The picture book “Katzenaugen-grüne-Trauben-Blitzer-Glitzer-Geistergrün”, illustrated by Katja Gehrmann, is her first book published by Hanser (2015).
Tomer Gardi, born in 1974 at Kibbutz Dan in Galilee, lives in Berlin. He studied literature and education in Tel Aviv and Berlin. Gardi’s literary essay ”Stein, Papier” was published in 2011 (German edition 2013). His debut novel “Broken German” was published by Droschl in 2016. He read an extract from it at the 40th Days of German-Language Literature in Klagenfurt. The radio play adaptation of “Broken German” (an SWR production, directed by Noam Brusilovsky) won the ARD German Radio Play Prize in 2017. “Die Feuerbringer – Eine Schlager-Operetta” (a co-production by WDR and BR, directed by Susanne Krings) was selected by the jury of the German Academy of Performing Arts as Radio Play of the Month for February 2018. In 2019, Tomer Gardi was awarded the Alfred Döblin Scholarship for his second novel, “Sonst kriegen Sie Ihr Geld zurück”. For his novel “Eine runde Sache”, he received a creative writing grant from the German Literature Fund in 2020 and a working grant from the Berlin Senate for Literature in Non-German Languages in 2021. Tomer Gardi won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2022 for his novel “Eine runde Sache”.
Yan Geling is a Chinese novelist and screenwriter. Born in Shanghai in 1958, Yan served in the People’s Liberation Army during the Cultural Revolution. Her career began at the age of twelve as a dancer in an entertainment troupe, followed by more than a decade of military service, including stints in Tibet and working as a war correspondent during the Sino-Vietnamese War. In 1989, she emigrated to the USA and studied literature at Columbia University. Her multi-award-winning works, which have been translated internationally, have frequently been adapted for film and television, including works by renowned directors such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang. Yan’s most notable works include “Die verlorene Tochter des Glücks“, “Die kleine Tante Crane“ and “Die Blumen des Krieges“. Her stories often explore female perspectives and historical events, which she portrays in a unique way thanks to her distinctive position straddling Chinese and American cultures. Yan is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Société des Gens de Lettres in France and the Writers’ Guild of America, West. She is also a former member of the Chinese Writers’ Association. She lives in Berlin with her husband, the diplomat Lawrence Walker.
