I’m a German-American born in Düsseldorf in 1987.
I studied literature and history at Humboldt, Cambridge and Oxford universities and graduated in 2013 with a thesis on the feminist discourses in the works of Elfriede Jelinek and Valie Export.
I’m currently working on my third novel for which I received a scholarship from Stiftung ZURÜCKGEBEN. In addition, I have the pleasure to be working on a children’s book born out of a cooperation with illustrator Marta Slawinska.
Alongside my writing, I lecture in literature and creative writing and provide editorial assistance to publishers. Recent projects include fiction as well as non-fiction, such as the development of Spiegel-Bestseller Das Ich im Du by Tanja and Christian Roos, Mira Ungewitter’s God is a Feminist and the co-production of audiobooks such as Yasmina Reza’s Serge, Abbas Khider’s Der Erinnerungsfälscher, and Patrick Modiano’s Chevreuse.
Publications:
My debut novel, down, is a coming-of-age story about a young woman with down syndrome and her sexuality. It was published in September 2018 by Launenweber. During my research, I cooperated with the Berlin based foundation downsyndromberlin e.V.
My translation of the book Honjok — The art of living alone (Ullstein Buchverlage, 2020) centers on a movement called #honjok which was born out of a surge in feminism in South Korea. Honjoks try to upend gender norms by disavowing the predicted paths of marriage and family and choose to live on their own.
Poems and short stories of mine have appeared in The Catweazle, Nox, and in orte. A monologue of mine has been staged at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Awards and Residencies:
2022 Nominated for the Young Excellence Award by Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Frankfurter Buchmesse & Mediacampus Frankfurt
2020 Invitation to Bieler Gespräche 2021 (2-day workshop residency) and selected entry for the Textatelier
2019–2020 Scholarship holder of the Foundation for Jewish Women in Art and Science Stiftung ZURÜCKGEBEN – Förderung jüdischer Frauen in Kunst und Wissenschaft granted for my second novel
2014 4 months Creative Writing workshop at Literaturhaus Hamburg (Junges Schreiblabor), taught by Mareike Krügel and Thomas Pletzinger – sponsored by Kulturstiftung Hamburg and Claussen Simon Stiftung
2013 Winner of the Oxford German Network translation competition (translation of the short story ‘Der Balkon’ by Felicitas Hoppe from German to English)
Memberships:
I am a member if PEN International, supporting writers in exile.
Press:
honjok
12.03.2021 „Koreaner machen es vor: Honjok — die Lust am Alleinleben“, Solveig Bach, ntv
14.11.2020 „Sologamie, super“, Maxi Leinkauf, Der Freitag
down
18.09.2019 „Name mit Doppelsinn“, Christine Schmitt, Jüdische Allgemeine
2.05.2019 Buchrezension zu „down“ von Norbert W. Schlinkert, fixpoetry
12.04.2019 Buchrezension zu „down“ von Norbert W. Schlinkert, Der Freitag
6.11.2018 Buchrezension zu „down“ von Christian Eidloth, ekz.bibliotheksservice
other
14.06.2022 YEA-Award Nomination— Clara Henssen: Weltenbürgerin
19.04.2017 Litaffin – Bloggen über junges Schreiben. NOX: junge Literatur. Ausgabe 5
15.02.2017 Im Interview: Esther Becker, Jonis Hartmann, Dominik Ritter und Clara Henssen
22.8.2016: „Underground und Underdogs der Hamburger Literaturszene“ von Katja Müller, UNISCENE