Reading & Talk: Daniela Dröscher - Speaking

Moderation: Caroline Grafe, LIT.QUARTIER

We all speak incessantly and usually take it for granted that we will be understood.

For writer Daniela Dröscher, speaking was never a harmless means of communication. As the child of a newcomer to the Hunsrück region, speaking between High German and the broad Palatinate dialect proved to be such a double-edged act of adaptation that she preferred to remain silent. Outside of the private sphere, she also lacked the courage to stand up for her own words for a long time, the fear of being recognized or misunderstood as a social climber was too great. With radical openness, she talks about her emancipation from a shamefully silent woman to a publicly speaking woman. She reflects on whether the willingness to be misunderstood might not be the actual prerequisite for true understanding and a productive social dialog.

Daniela Dröscher studied German, Philosophy and English in Trier and London, obtained a doctorate in Media Studies and a diploma in Scenic Writing at the University of Graz. Her literary work ranges from essays and novels to plays, in which she often addresses the themes of origin, power structures and personal development. Her big breakthrough came with her autofictional novel "Lügen über meine Mutter", which was shortlisted for the German Book Prize in 2022. Since starting to write, she has received numerous awards, including the Anna Seghers Prize, a working scholarship from the German Literature Fund and a residency at Villa Kamogawa, Kyoto.