11 November 2024
Ursula Krechel: “But who was murdered, and who killed?”
Akademie der Künste opens the Ursula Krechel Archive
Wednesday, 20 November 2024, 7 pm, Pariser Platz
Violence is a central theme in Ursula Krechel’s multifaceted work. On 20 November at the Akademie der Künste, on the occasion of the introduction of her archive, the author talks to Andreas Platthaus about her artful poem Stimmen aus dem harten Kern and reads from her new, highly political novel Sehr geehrte Frau Ministerin, which will be published in early 2025. It tells the story of three women in antiquity and the present day whose lives are characterised by violence suffered and practiced. Werner Heegewaldt, Director of the Archives, gives the welcome address at the archive opening. Gabriele Radecke introduces the archive holdings.
The Ursula Krechel Archive contains a wide range of manuscripts covering a variety of genres. It includes preliminary notes, manuscripts, typesetting corrections and printed copies of her publications, as well as copies of her articles and smaller contributions, radio manuscripts and collections of materials. Working material from her teaching activity has also been handed over to the Akademie, as have materials on reading tours, residencies abroad, her work at the Verlag der Autoren, at the PEN Centre and in academies and associations. In addition, the collection includes correspondence with institutions and individuals, including Heinz Ludwig Arnold, Jürgen Becker, Nicolas Born, Karl Otto Conrady, Friedrich Christian Delius, Ulrike Draesner, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Barbara Frischmuth, Wilhelm Genazino, Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt, Ludwig Harig, Josef Haslinger, Barbara Honigmann, Sarah Kirsch, Uwe Kolbe, Brigitte Kronauer, Friederike Mayröcker, Herta Müller, Helga M. Novak, Christa Reinig, Gerlind Reinshagen, Peter Rühmkorf, Urs Widmer, Christa Wolf and Gisela von Wysocki. The Ursula Krechel Archive will gradually be catalogued and made accessible to researchers and the public.
Ursula Krechel, born in 1947, graduated in German studies, theatre studies and art history in 1971 with a dissertation on the dramaturge, director and theatre critic Herbert Ihering. She herself worked as a dramaturge, in addition to her work at the Literaturhaus Frankfurt/Main and as director of the prose workshop at the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin. She taught at the Literaturinstitut Leipzig, at the Universität der Künste Berlin and at the University of Essen, and was writer-in-residence at the University of Warwick, at Washington University, St. Louis and at Ben Gurion University Beer Sheva.
Ursula Krechel’s extensive work includes radio dramas, plays, poems and essays as well as novels such as Shanghai fern von wo (2008). With Landgericht (2012) and Geisterbahn (2018), she continues her exploration of National Socialism and the German post-war period. The volume Gehen. Träumen. Sehen. Unter Bäumen. (2022) demonstrates the breadth of her essayistic work. Her life’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Joseph-Breitbach-Preis (2009) and the Jean-Paul-Preis of the Free State of Bavaria (2019). Ursula Krechel is a member of the Akademie der Künste, the German Academy for Language and Literature in Darmstadt and is Vice President of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz.
Event information
Ursula Krechel: “But who was murdered, and who killed?”
Archive Opening
With Ursula Krechel, Andreas Platthaus, Gabriele Radecke and Werner Heegewaldt
In German
Wednesday, 20 November 2024, 7 pm, Pariser Platz
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Admission € 7.50/5
Ticket reservations: 030 200 57-1000 or ticket@adk.de
Press tickets are available at 030 200 57-1514 or by email presse@adk.de
For inquiries about the Ursula Krechel Archive
Dr. Gabriele Radecke, Head of the Literature Archives of the Akademie der Künste
+49(0)30 20057-3200, radecke@adk.de