Clara Henssen is a German-American writer based in Oxford. She is the author of down (Launenweber, 2018), a literary exploration of Down syndrome through the coming-of-age story of a young woman navigating her sexuality, and the translator of Honjok — The Art of Living Alone (Ullstein Buchverlage, 2020), which chronicles a feminist-driven movement in South Korea.
Drawn to the oral tradition of literature, Clara began writing with a live audience in mind and has presented her short fiction on a number of German literary stages, including Fleet Poet, Land in Sicht, Lettrétage, and Literaturhaus Hamburg. Her poetry and short fiction have since appeared in The Catweazle, Nox, and orte, and have been staged at the German Opera Berlin.
After studying literature at Humboldt, Cambridge, and Oxford universities, Clara held editorial positions at German publishing houses. She now teaches creative writing at Stanford House in Oxford and is at work on her second novel, supported by the Foundation Stiftung Zurückgeben Scholarship.
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)
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