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.
Maike Wetzel is a writer, playwright and screenwriter based in Berlin. In addition to musical, virtual reality, performance, theatrical, cinematic and other interdisciplinary collaborations she has published novels and short stories in five books to date. Several of her works have been translated into English and numerous other languages. Her short stories have appeared in over 40 anthologies. Her writing has been awarded numerous scholarships and literary prizes.
Her latest novel Schwebende Brücken was published 2023 (Deutschlandfunk and other reviews). Some of the stories in Distant Beloved / Entfernte Geliebte (2019) were written at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles. Her novel Elly (2018) was awarded the Robert Gernhardt Prize, among others. The Guardian named Lyn Marven's English translation as one of the ten best foreign-language books.
PROLL! by Adrian Figueroa, based on her screenplay, won the German Short Film Award and was submitted to the competition for the 95th Oscars® in the category "Live Action Short Film". Her plays have been shown at Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin (HAU), Munich's Prinzregententheater, Bühnen Halle, Radialsystem Berlin and Hamburg's Resonanzraum, among others.
Her radio play based on Schwebende Brücken (Floating Bridges) was named Radio Play of the Month in June 2025 by the German Academy of Performing Arts. ‘So intense and honest’ (epd medien) ‘great sense of tonality and timing’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung) She graduated in directing and screenwriting at the University for Television and Film in Munich and studied screenwriting in Great Britain on a DAAD scholarship. She is a member of PEN Berlin.
