»Franziska Linkerhand« Szenische Lesung mit Christiane Lemm, Petra Kuhles und Donja Djember

In the organizer's words:

"I would rather choose thirty wild years than seventy good and peaceful ones." These are the words of the main character in Brigitte Reimann's novel "Franziska Linkerhand". However, they could just as easily stand for the life of the writer herself. "Why shouldn't I enjoy my life? In ten or twenty years, it will all be over," she wrote at the age of 20.

Brigitte Reimann was born on July 21, 1933 in Burg near Magdeburg. In 1947, she contracted polio and had to spend six months in an isolation ward. It was during this time that she decided to become a writer. As a 14-year-old, she wrote to a friend: "I want to be a writer, but not just as a sideline, but as my main profession. I hope it works out."

She graduated from high school in 1951. After a short course in education, she worked for two years as an elementary school teacher in Burg. In 1956 - at the age of 23 - her first book "Die Frau am Pranger" was published. In 1968, at the age of 35, she was diagnosed with cancer for the first time; this was followed by several hospital stays and operations.

On February 20, 1973 - aged just 39 - Brigitte Reimann died in East Berlin. In 1974, one year after her death, her novel "Franziska Linkerhand" was published unfinished. She worked on this work, which tells the story of a life-hungry, uncompromising woman obsessed by a vision and a love who wants to become an architect, for over ten years. She wrote to a friend about the novel: "A girl, young, talented, full of passionate plans, comes to the modular city and dreams of palaces made of glass and steel - and then she has to count building elements."

The actresses Christiane Lemm and Petra Kuhles have been performing together with their own literary programs since 2015. With their carefully selected texts, they commemorate important female writers of the 20th century. Donja Djember, cellist and music teacher at the Ratingen Municipal Music School (NRW), has been presenting a solo cello program with her own pieces and improvisations since 1996. She performs at readings and exhibitions, always inspired by the texts and pictures she reads. She has been working with her father Mohammad Eghbal and his band A-HURA (Sufiworldmusic) since 2007. Since 2010, she has also been part of the trio "InsaDonjakai" (own pieces) and participates in the project "Kasienki & Tuwim".