Another female writer who read at the EdBookFest - Jenny Erpenbeck, born in East-Berlin, former German Democratic Republic. And she, too, comes from a family of writers: her grandfather Fritz Erpenbeck was an actor, author and founder of the journal Theater der Zeit. His wife Hedda Zinner was a former actress who turned to politics becoming a left-wing journalist. During WWII they emigrated to Vienna and Prague, moving on to the Soviet-Union in 1935, returning to East-Berlin after the war. Jenny's father John Erpenbeck, born in Ufa, Russia, is a physicist and author and her mother Doris Kilias was a translator of Arabic literature (e.g. Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz). Nevertheless, Jenny first learned the trade of a bookbinder before turning to the theatre. She started at the Humboldt University of Berlin, changed to study Music Theatre Director at the Hanns Eisler Music Conservatory and completed her studies in 1994. As a freelance director she directed at various opera houses in Germany and Austria. About that time she started also to write. Her first very surreal novel The Old Child gained her all attention right away. Her second novel The Book of Words turned out even more surreal and dreamlike. Her absurd style had Michel Faber write in a review: "[Jenny] is one of the finest, 
most exciting authors alive" (The Guardian, 30/10/2012). And it was Michel himself interviewing Jenny at the EdBookFest. Her third novel Visitation was the focus of the evening - another enigmatic novel with a (haunted?!) house as a framing character, its changes of ownership mirroring the political transitions spanning several decennials. "When you come from the East, when you've seen your country disappear, you understand how quickly things can change. Suddenly, everything seems surrealistic!" (EdBookFest, 2011). As the former GDR with its dark secrets 'haunts' her first two books, her third novel is set on a bigger canvas - eventually, the change of the GDR becomes only one of various transitions. Seemingly, those changes and their accompanying losses are 'haunting' Jenny herself. Her fourth novel bears the title: Things that Disappear...
most exciting authors alive" (The Guardian, 30/10/2012). And it was Michel himself interviewing Jenny at the EdBookFest. Her third novel Visitation was the focus of the evening - another enigmatic novel with a (haunted?!) house as a framing character, its changes of ownership mirroring the political transitions spanning several decennials. "When you come from the East, when you've seen your country disappear, you understand how quickly things can change. Suddenly, everything seems surrealistic!" (EdBookFest, 2011). As the former GDR with its dark secrets 'haunts' her first two books, her third novel is set on a bigger canvas - eventually, the change of the GDR becomes only one of various transitions. Seemingly, those changes and their accompanying losses are 'haunting' Jenny herself. Her fourth novel bears the title: Things that Disappear...