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Personally, she never met Fidel Castro
Between 1950 and 1975 there was the legendary series of events "Darmstadt talks". To be shortened, it was about bringing relevant topics closer to relevant issues such as problems in public discussions. That is why the "Darmstadt table talks" should also be done, where those who have their say in different places make their contribution to preservation and further development of our society. This time the journalist and publicist W. Christian Schmitt, together with cameraman Werner Wabnitz, is a guest at the novel author Barbara Zeizinger, who lives in Darmstadt-Eberstadt.
She is not a "travel writer," she says. Even if this can be read in Wikipedia. Only once did she write a travel guide about Cuba, at that time when Fidel Castro still lived and in Havana you could not avoid his portrait (along with revolutionary sayings) in Havana. As a poet, however, she wants to be seen because she "came to write through the poetry". Several small books of poems from her, among other things, "if I had stayed" and "wide angle near", have been published by Ludwigsburger Pop-Verlag.
Photo: Werner Wabnitz
To say it exactly: Barbara Zeizinger is a novel author, which she once again demonstrates with her latest publication "Life on Floor". In the blurb of the book you learn: "Barbara Zeizinger tells the story of a house and its inhabitants in 1931 to 2020". Even more: "It is about four families between National Socialism, war, post -war period, reconstruction and democratic development of the Federal Republic ...". And she adds: "Almost all of my books are family novels and have a historical film ..."
But we wanted to talk less about all the book content, more about the author: How she got to write, how a book arises with her, how much time she invests in reading what she experiences with readings, how big her "fan community" is now, what her life and writing planning looks like and much more. Barbara, as I can say to her, was a teacher in the Schuldorf Bergstrasse for almost 40 years, attempted to bring what is called "mature" to bring students closer, also history awareness and social behavior.
We sit opposite each other in your living room. She prepared a breakfast. I smear a bun and enjoy the coffee before we continue our conversation. How did you actually get to write? I ask. "I didn't have the feeling that I absolutely had to be a writer, I am a late developer and was already in the late 40s when I published my 1st book," she says, "but I always liked to write". Even articles for the Mannheimer Morgen at a young age. At the time, she recalls, she remembers all the topics that "did not want to treat the other". And so she wrote "about mini golf, the hairdresser guild, carnival sessions, regulars' tables, but also about films that others did not want to watch".
Where does the tendency to journalism come from? Because her father was once editor -in -chief at the Odenwälder Zeitung. Despite everything, she did not become a journalist, but initially a teacher and later a writer, who can report that she is a member of the PEN Club, the Darmstadt author group Poseidon and the cog.
As a student, she also grew up with songwriters like Hannes Wader, Dieter Süverkrüp Uam "My very first novel", she says, "played in Italy at the time and acted about hostages and their shooting". A novel that needed a lot of research on site. Today she knows that her "writing time is limited" and that she cannot write "from morning to evening".
When we get into the final phase with our table discussion, I find out from her that she is "ambitious in terms of writing". What "must" be and especially in old age, I ask. "Are important", she trusts me, "friendships" and being with people. Because this is "good for expanding your own perspectives". And then she adds: "I feel free to write what is important to me".
Since she has proven that she can both write both newspaper articles and books, I ask at the end whether she also sees it in such a way that journalists (more) are responsible for information and (more) writers. She smiles.
To the person
Babara Zeizinger, born in 1949, born in Weinheim, place of residence: Darmstadt; Studied German studies, history and Italian in Mannheim and Frankfurt; Hik., Two daughters. Further information can be found at www.barbarazeizinger.de
The next interlocutor is the Darmstadt crime writer Andreas Roß.
