SCHÖNES leben: Buchpremiere mit Volker Kaminski

In the organizer's words:

Volker Kaminski presents his recently published novel"SCHÖNES leben". Discussion partner and moderator: Heidi von Plato

Art as a survival strategy:

16-year-old Viktor doesn't have it easy. To escape his parents' fierce arguments, he creates his own world of beauty and develops a passion for painting. After his mother and sisters move out, he is left behind with his father, who numbs the pain of his shattered dream of a large family with alcohol. Viktor is accepted at the art academy, but has to defend himself against his father's attacks, who rejects Viktor's career aspirations. In the struggle for recognition, vacillating between understanding and hatred, Viktor develops into an idiosyncratic painter, supported by his professor and the nude model Irm. The pub conversations between the art students reflect the zeitgeist of the 1980s.

Volker Kaminski was born in Karlsruhe and studied German and philosophy in Freiburg and Berlin, where he lives as a freelance writer. In addition to short stories and columns (Berliner Zeitung) and reviews, he has published numerous novels (e.g. "Rot wie Schnee", "Der Gestrandete"). Berlin publisher PalmArtPress has so far published "Herzhand" (2021), "RUA 17" (2023) and "Die letzte Prüfung" (2024, revised new edition). Since 2014, he has been a lecturer at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, where he teaches in a Master's program in Creative Writing. He has received several scholarships, including the Alfred Döblin Scholarship, the Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation Scholarship and the Künstlerhaus Edenkoben Scholarship.

Heidi von Plato writes prose, plays and poetry. She studied German language and literature, psychology and philosophy at the FU Berlin. While working as a dramaturge at various theaters, she wrote plays that have been performed on numerous stages. She is represented by Suhrkamp Theaterverlag. Her stories and poems have been published in various magazines. She has received several scholarships, including from the Berlin Senate for Cultural Affairs and the Literary Colloquium Berlin. The novel "Das haarige Mädchen" was published by Parthas Verlag, the novel "Das verschwundene Manuskript" by Anthea Verlag.