G ISELA F EUERSENGER

Born in Rheinland-Palatinate (Germany), 1945 Her family once lived in Saarland but during the war they had to escape from there, later they came back She studied in Dortmund, graduated as a master of arts and worked there a few years as a teacher Since 2001 she has lived in the Grafschaft Bentheim

W RITING She loves reading and telling stories/ fairy tales She once read a book that had such a bad quality that she decided to write her own books She says that writing boosts her self-confidence She is not strict with formal aspects She doesn’t want to teach people in her texts but give them ideas to think about

W RITING II She collects inspiration by watching TV, her own experiences, fashion  she always has a critical look on these things When she writes a book she first makes a concept with the protagonists, antagonists and motives. After that she fills in the details and finally polishes the complete story She writes 8 to 10 pages a day for 2 to 3 hours She gets feedback from her friends and neighbours

W RITING III One of her favourite books is Brave New World by Aldous L. Huxley She says that publishing a book is very difficult  all the publishers are only focused on making money  unknown authors have no chance She makes no money with her books She doesn’t have a special target group. She writes the books for everyone who likes to read them  no real target audience Her message to her readers : be faithful to yourself, don’t take drugs don’t lie to yourself

L EBEN IM H IMMEL (L IFE IN H EAVEN ) “Life in Heaven” This text is about a woman who dies and finds herself in heaven. She soon finds out that this heaven has nothing to do with the heaven she always imagined. This heaven seemed like hell because life in heaven was hellish boring and monotonous. The text is purely fictional, does not have anything biographical Although it is about religion she herself is not very pious

T AUSENDFÄLTIG L EBEN (T HOUSANDFOLD LIFE ) This haiku symbolises winter. Crystal clear, cold nights make nature freeze. Nature takes a rest but under the frozen new life rises – thousandfold life flows.

T HE AUTOGRAPH