The award-winning writer and translator Anne Weber visited the Section for German
On Wednesday 7 October, the Section for German had a visit from the internationally acclaimed German-French author and translator Anne Weber. She participated in a conversation about her literary works with the department’s students and staff, moderated by Hanna Henryson.
Anne Weber and Hanna Henryson.
In her literary texts, Anne Weber often weaves together her own life and those of other people with reflections on history and social issues in Germany and France. Reflecting the fact that she has lived in Paris since 1983, her latest novel Bannmeilen. Ein Roman in Streifzügen records her wanderings through the run-down Parisian suburbs (les banlieues). This novel is on the literature list of a master course in urban literature, “Raum, Bewegung, (Post-)Moderne: Literarische Perspektiven auf die Metropole um 1900 und heute”, which starts in November.
Anne Weber has received a number of awards for her literary works, including the prestigious German Book Prize (Deutscher Buchpreis) in 2020 for the book Annette, ein Heldinnenepos (Epic Annette: A Heroine’s Tale in English translation 2022) about a young woman who joins the French resistance movement during World War II. Anne Weber is also a renowned translator and has been awarded the Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse for her translation of the French-German author Cécile Wajsbrot’s novel Nevermore in 2022.
Anne Weber usually writes her own works in German and then translates them herself into French. In the conversation, she described this self-translation practice as time-consuming but satisfying. The discussion also touched on the role of literature in society and its relationship to historiography, how identity is created in-between cultures and what actually constitutes heroism.
We thank Bokförlaget Faethon and Goethe-Institut Stockholm for the cooperation in organising the visit!
Last updated: 2026-10-20
Source: Department of Slavic and Baltic Studies Finnish Dutch and German