Judith Hermann: Poetics seminar (only for Kassel students)

Grimm Poetry Professor 2025: Judith Hermann

German writer Judith Hermann (*1970) has been one of the most important voices in contemporary German-language literature since her prose debut, the short story collection Sommerhaus später (1998). She is considered a masterful storyteller of short prose forms. With Nichts als Gespenster (2003), Alice (2009) and Lettipark (2016), she has since published a total of four volumes of short stories. She has also proven herself as a novelist with Aller Liebe Anfang (2014) and Daheim (2021).

Hermann's fictional texts are characterized by a special, sensual narrative style, a particular 'sound'. They are characterized by poetic descriptions of everyday life as well as a focus on essential themes. In a manner typical of her time and at the same time with timeless validity, Judith Hermann thematizes relationship constellations, the coexistence of people and family constellations as well as existential experiences with illness, dying and death in her prose texts, always focusing on her characters at different ages and stages of life.

Hermann's stories have also been adapted for film - including THOMPSON MUSIK (D 2004; dir.: Jakob Ziemnicki) and NICHTS ALS GESPENSTER (D 2007; dir.: Martin Gypkens). She has also received numerous prizes and awards for her prose texts, including the Kleist Prize, the Bremen Literature Prize, the LiteraturTour Nord Prize and the Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize. She gave the Frankfurt Poetry Lectures in winter semester 2021/22. The equally poetological and personal text on these lectures is available under the title Wir hätten uns alles gesagt (2023).

You can find more information about the Grimm Poetics Professorship 2025 here.