Guest of the ilb 2006
E.R. Frank
was born in 1968 and was a clinical social worker in New York City for
many years. She currently lives in New Jersey where she writes and also
works with children, adolescents and adults in her own clinical social
work practice, specialising in trauma-related illnesses. Her first
novel, »Life is Funny« (2000), was a brilliant overnight success. It
centres on eleven young adults talking about their childhood in
Brooklyn during a period of seven years. The author portrays the fates
of vulnerable young people in a tone that is at times harsh and aloof,
but never lacking in affection or confidence in her characters. Just as
in Robert Altman’s elaborately intertwined episodic film »Short Cuts«,
Frank finds a distinctive voice for each individual and allows dramatic
portraits to evolve. For example, Keisha was molested by her brother at
the age of twelve years, but is nevertheless able to maintain a healthy
relationship with someone of her own age four years later; Eric is a
young black boy who has to take on the role of substitute father to his
younger brother and, in his own rough way, does so with great
tenderness. »An extraordinarily powerful book about the ability young
people have to survive in the world « wrote »Publishers Weekly«.
The author’s subsequent novels also discuss life's
vagaries, the world view of young people left to their own devices,
alcohol and abuse, violence and discrimination, alongside freedom,
vulnerability, greatness and the sense of being »rescued«. E.R. Frank’s
tone is clear, undiminished and poetic. She is an author with her feet
on the ground who is effective in making the themes, settings and
language of her novels relevant for her young readers. On the subject
of her talent for capturing a »voice«, she says: »If I’m around people
who have an idiosyncratic way of speaking, I ›hear‹ it immediately, am
taken with it and find myself using it or writing it.«
Her novel for young adults entitled »America«
(2002), translated into German in 2005, was celebrated by the
»Süddeutsche Zeitung« as one of the »best novels for adolescents of the
past few years.« The fifteen-year-old protagonist »America« has never
known his father and his mother is a crack addict, so he is brought up
by the good-hearted Mrs. Harper. One weekend he is supposed to visit
his mother in New York, but she disappears without a trace. Following
mistakes on the part of the authorities, nobody takes care of him and
he struggles along by himself, suffering a great deal along the way. On
his journey towards a new life, America confides to his therapist that
his brothers were violent and that he was sexually abused by Browning;
he also talks about his friends. During these tough therapy sessions,
fragments of his suppressed memories return to him. E.R. Frank says of
the protagonists in her novels: »These characters are the result of my
cumulative experiences and imaginings. They could easily have walked
through my office doors, but instead they have settled in my heart.«
This novel received a nomination for the German Youth Literature Prize
in 2006.
Following »Friction« (2003), E.R. Frank published
her fourth teenage novel »Wrecked« in 2005, which also found an
enthusiastic response among critics.
© internationales literaturfestival berlin
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