Blind Bees

German Book Prize 2009 for Du stirbst nicht

In her novel Du stirbst nicht, Kathrin Schmidt told the moving, haunting and irresistibly funny tale of a person’s rehabilitation through language. This volume of poems demonstrates how astonishingly adeptly Kathrin Schmidt can play with words. A delight!

kleine anfrage
unter den kalten, sehr aufgeklarten
werbemaßnahmen des nachthimmel e.v.
besticht insbesondere: die tadellose klinge
des abgemagerten möndleins, wie sie
mit hellwacher schärfe, immer wieder, rechts, links
neben mir in die kissen fährt, dass ich
mich um und um werfe und endlich
zahlendes mitglied werden möchte.
täten meine späten peseten aber was nützen
dem ganzen verein? dessen schatzmeister
an meiner seite das alles verschläft?

A wealth of motifs, word games, sound diversity and striking breaks – Kathrin Schmidt offers us everything that poetry makes possible. Effortlessly precise, casually meaningful, aimed directly at the reader, his heart and his reason.

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  • Publisher: Kiepenheuer&Witsch
  • Release: 22.02.2010
  • ISBN: 978-3-462-04193-4
  • 96 Pages
  • Author: Kathrin Schmidt
Buchcover von Blind Bees: Gedichte
Kathrin Schmidt Blind Bees
Portrait von Kathrin Schmidt
© Imrana Kapetanovic
Kathrin Schmidt

Kathrin Schmidt , born in Gotha in 1958, has worked as a psychologist, editor and social scientist. She has received numerous awards for her literary work, including the 1993 Leonce and Lena Prize and the Christine Lavant Prize and the German Book Prize for her novel Du stirbst nicht (“You’re Not Going to Die”). Other works by her include the novel Die Gunnar-Lennefsen-Expedition, the collection of poems Blinde Bienen. Gedichte (“Blind Bees”), the short story collection Fitino. Schwamm drüber (“Let Bygones be Bygones”) and the novel Kapoks Schwestern (“Kapoks Sisters”).
Rights to her books have been sold to Belarus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain.