Maike Wetzel

A profoundly moving book. The word ‘autofiction’ does not at all do the work justice. What we are reading is the spiritual and literary examination of a terrible misfortune. As if out of the blue, a catastrophe shatters a life—and then, broken, it is pieced back together again and goes on. I am tremendously impressed with how Maike Wetzel tells this story.

Daniel Kehlmann

Maike Wetzel's current novel Floating Bridges (Schwebende Brücken) benefits from guaranteed support towards the translation costs into English by the Goethe Institute. Lyn Marven reads her sample translation.

After graduating from the University for TV and Film (HFF) Munich and studying in Great Britain, Maike Wetzel lives in Berlin as a writer, playwright and screenwriter. She has received numerous scholarships and literary awards. Part of the stories in Distant Beloved / Entfernte Geliebte (2019) were written at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles. Her debut novel Elly (2018) was awarded the Robert Gernhardt Prize, among others.

The English translation by Lyn Marven was named one of the "ten best new books in translation by the Guardian. Her short stories were also translated in numerous languages. PROLL! by Adrian Figueroa, based on a screenplay by Maike Wetzel, won the German Short Film Award among others and submitted to the competition for the 95th Oscars® in the category "Live Action Short Film".

In November 2023 another collaboration with Adrian Figueroa the new play PAUKEN premiered at Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) in Berlin.

Watch the replay of the event about my novel ELLY: hosted by Book Soup and Villa Aurora, Los Angeles, Maike Wetzel in conversation with Lisa Napoli