Researching Claudia Schreiber

After studying journalism, education science and sociology at the University of Göttingen and University of Mainz, 1979 – 1985, M.A. degree, she worked as editor, reporter and anchorwoman for Südwestfunk (SWF) and Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), (children's newscast logo!, among others) broadcast networks. After stages in Moscow (1992 – 1996) and Brussels (1996 – 1998), she has been making her home in Cologne and is working as a freelance writer.

In her novel Emmas Glück (Emma’s Bliss) of 2003, translated into nine languages, she included motifs from her hometown in northern Hesse. It has been her most successful work so far. With its crisp and witty sentences, its deadpan presentation of the improbable and eccentric and its deep sympathy for its cast of misfits, Schreiber's style in this book somewhat recalls that of Heinrich Böll. A film of this book, directed by Sven Taddicken and starring Jördis Triebel and Jürgen Vogel was released in Germany in 2006; its English title is Emma's Bliss.

Her children's book Sultan und Kotzbrocken (Sultan and Scumbag), first published in 2004, has so far been translated into four languages. It was produced as a theater play in the “Theater Junge Generation” in Dresden in an adaptation by Rüdiger Pape (director) and Jörg Hückler (dramaturgy). The “Theaterkumpanei Ludwigshafen” has produced a bilingual version of the play in an adaptation by Bärbel Maier; they perform it in German and Persian, both in Germany and Iran, at the Fadjr Festival, among others. At the 17th Hamedan Theater Festival ForChirldren&Adults 2010 it won several prices.

Schreiber's book Ihr ständiger Begleiter (Her Constant Companion, subtitle: Fast eine Liebesgeschichte - Almost a Love Story) also draws on her personal history: It is the story of a young woman growing up in a strict and narrow-minded Christian community, as Schreiber did. The novel recounts the heroine's struggle to liberate herself from her pervading relationship with God, who constantly appears to her and with whom she converses familiarly. A Dutch translation of this book appeared in 2007.

Her latest novel Süß wie Schattenmorellen (Sweet as Morello Cherries) is a coming-of-age-story, most of it taking place in a cherry orchard. While in Emma’s Luck Schreiber's topic was the end of life, she writes here about its beginning. A film of this book will be produced by Makido Production/Wien und Weimar, directed by Manuel Siebenmann. Together with him Claudia Schreiber is writing the script and again adopting her own novel.