Christine Westermann

When Christine Westermann writes and speaks about life, it is always a clever, disarmingly honest, inimitably serious and humorous – in short: a magical commitment to life in all its beautiful and painful facets. She will be bringing three of her wonderful life books to the festival opening and, as one of Germany’s best-known literary critics, will also be giving special book recommendations.

Books are an integral part of Christine Westermann’s life, although her path to them was full of hurdles. In Die Familie der anderen. My Life in Books, she tells with great verve how she found her way to books (and Thomas Mann) – and embarks on a captivating journey through her own family history. What draws her to books, she writes: “Reading, how it can also go with life”. Anyone who reads Christine Westermann’s books will find enriching, inspiring and always conciliatory ways of dealing with the inevitable hurdles of life, such as ageing or saying goodbye. Something is still possible. Mit 65 in die Kurve is her very personal, captivatingly honest look at getting older, a book that – as she writes – is not intended to be a guidebook, but is nevertheless a source of encouragement for many readers and was on the SPIEGEL bestseller list for weeks. Can you learn to say goodbye? How liberating can it be to leave a city, a place of residence, a stage of life behind in order to start anew? How do you cope with the death of a friend who dies far too soon? Sometimes it’s as light as a feather. Von kleinen und großen Abschieden, Christine Westermann succeeds in taking an open, sympathetic look at the big and small losses, the voluntary and unavoidable farewells that weigh particularly heavily. Three wonderful books that let us read life.

Christine Westermann is a radio and television journalist, presenter and bestselling author. She is best known for her cult show Zimmer frei!, which she presented with Götz Alsmann for 20 years. Her book podcasts on WDR are extremely popular.

A cooperation between Literaturherbst Heidelberg and DAI Heidelberg