Dorothee Elmiger and Alexandra Leonhartsberger
Photo: Jürgen Beck
Dorothee Elmiger, born in 1985, studied history, philosophy and literary writing at the Bern University of the Arts. She now lives and works in Zurich. Her debut novel ‘Einladung an die Waghalsigen’ was published in 2010, followed by the novel ‘Schlafgänger’ in 2014 (both DuMont Buchverlag). Her texts have been translated into various languages, won several awards and been adapted for the stage. In her novels and essays, Dorothee Elmiger is interested in the experiment, the historical source, repetition, the beautiful and the uncanny, in the states of the body and politics and in the appearance of possible futures in language. The mentorship will offer a great opportunity for dialogue, joint tinkering and the finest textual work at the same time.
Photo: Ramona Malek
Alexandra Leonhartsberger (*1988) grew up in Upper Austria and Tyrol and has lived in Zurich for several years. She studied comparative literature, runs courses in German as a second language and children's cycling, and organises holiday camps, comedy courses for schools, and writing clubs. In between, she also works with film festivals, self-organised music events and project workshops. She is currently writing her first text, which seeks to be something other than a diary entry, and occasionally poems.
Project
As a short story, the ‘Störwort’ project pursued the (im)possibilities of storytelling itself. It asked: How do your own experiences alienate you when they are spoken about and shared? What happens to words when they elicit a reaction? To what extent can feelings be communicated linguistically at all?
Double, then, saw itself as a therapist for language. The mentor and mentee sought to set priorities that give the existing material a differentiated and authentic form and enable an effective space. They honed the manuscript in terms of content and language, emphasising absurd, fictional and alienating elements. It was important to them to take a critical look (or two) at social contexts and the limits of bringing related topics into everyday life through literature.
