Buchpremiere im Doppelpack mit Daniela Dröscher, Felicitas Hoppe und Miriam Zeh!

In the organizer's words:

The LEBEN series from Hanser Berlin continues: To mark the publication of the essays "Sprechen" by Daniela Dröscher and "Reisen" by Felicitas Hoppe, the two authors will be coming to the Colosseum on April 24 to talk to journalist Miriam Zeh about two of life's most important topics!

Daniela Dröscher's "Speaking" as a very personal story of self-empowerment - from a silent to a publicly speaking woman. And the question of how we should speak in order to really understand each other

Speaking was never a harmless means of communication for the writer Daniela Dröscher. As the child of a newcomer to the Hunsrück region, she was caught between High German and the broad Palatinate dialect, and speaking 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. In doing so, she reflects on whether the willingness to be misunderstood might not be the actual prerequisite for true understanding and a productive social dialog.

In "Travel", Felicitas Hoppe writes about restlessness and inertia and the privilege of the freedom to travel: "A person must travel. With all the risks and side effects."

Life is a journey with an unknown destination. But how do we live while traveling, how do we sleep, where do we live, what do we eat, how do we love, argue and work while we are constantly on the move, with all the risks and side effects, exploring the world to get a little closer to the place we long for? Who would know this better than Felicitas Hoppe, who has been effortlessly overcoming all boundaries with her imagination and love of storytelling ever since she circumnavigated the globe on a container freighter. As she recounts the adventure of her exuberant travel biography, which once began as a stay-at-home mom, she reflects on everyday life and the metaphysics of travel in a way that is as clever as it is gripping - that we should never have to leave our four walls and at the same time want to set off again immediately.

Daniela Dröscher, born in 1977, grew up in Rhineland-Palatinate and lives in Berlin. She writes prose, essays and theater texts. After studying German, philosophy and English in Trier and London, she completed her doctorate on Yoko Tawada's poetology at the University of Potsdam. "Zeige deine Klasse" was published in 2018, "Lügen über meine Mutter" was shortlisted for the German Book Prize in 2022. Most recently, her novel "Junge Frau mit Katze" was published in 2025.

Felicitas Hoppe, born in Hamelin in 1960, winner of the Georg Büchner Prize, lives as a writer in Berlin and Leuk. She has been publishing short stories, novels, children's books and essays since 1996 and has been traveling and writing, translating and lecturing non-stop around the world. The novel "Hoppe" was published in 2012, "Pravda. An American Journey", followed in 2021 by "Die Nibelungen. A German silent movie". Most recently, she was awarded the Berlin Literature Prize.

Miriam Zeh, born in Hamburg in 1988, works as a literary editor at Deutschlandfunk Kultur. She studied music, German studies and philosophy in Cologne and St. Louis. She received her doctorate from Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main in 2021. Miriam Zeh regularly moderates literary events throughout Germany and sits on various award juries as a literary critic. In 2022, she was the spokesperson for the jury for the German Book Prize.

This event is a cooperation between Hanser Verlag Berlin and Buchbox.

Both books will be available to purchase at a book table on the premiere evening.

Price information:

With Kiezkarte or discount on presentation of ID 16 €. Only available in the stores, but can also be refunded at the Box Office/book table.