Veronika Rotfuß

Veronika Rotfuß was born in Pforzheim in 1980. She now lives and works as an actress and author in Munich. After training as a goldsmith she enrolled in a drama college in Hamburg, where she currently lives, and subsequently worked in a theatre. She won the »Hinz and Kuntz Writing Competition« in 2006, and in the summer of 2008 »Mücke im März« (t: Mücke in March), her first novel, was published. The author tells the striking story of the 15 year-old Mücke, who lives with her parents and younger brother Jan in Hamburg and is starting the ninth grade. Mücke is in love for the first time, with Yurik: »Kissing him is the best thing there is. If Yurik and I lived in our perfect world at the sea, we would have to spend at least half of the day kissing. At least«. She likes reading classics such as »The Hunchback of Notre Dame« by Hugo, the »Silmarillion« by Tolkien or »Speaking with the Angel« by Hornby. And she listens to the music of the Norwegian singer Ane Brun. Rotfuß gives, with a sense of authencity, an account of Mücke’s moments of happiness – when she lifelessly drifts in the Majestic Hotel pool with Yurik, or sitting above the city’s rooftops with her friend Nora, the wind blowing their hair. But Mücke isn’t living in a bubble. Her mother has developed early dementia, her father spends every week in Tokyo owing to his work, and the family structures she relies on are threatening to fall apart. Between school, friendships, illness, her first love and a sense of responsibility for her mother as well as for her father, Mücke is not always able to cope with life. The author portrays the details of a teenager’s life with thoughtful precision – when the gym clothes have not been washed and only her least favourite purple glitter jogging trousers are in the wardrobe or when throwing her first party in her parents’ living room. Using insight and humour, Rotfuß achieves a balance between a young adult’s ambiguous emotions of guilt, powerlessness and anger.

Veronika Rotfuß loves music and long walks. In her free time she likes watching animal documentaries and playing computer games.

© international literature festival berlin

Mücke im März
Carlsen
Hamburg, 2008