Guest of ilb 2001
Bernhard Lassahn
was born in Coswig, East Germany, in 1951. His family moved to
the West early in his life. They initially lived at the refugee
camp in Espelkamp, then went on to Nemden near Melle, before settling
in the schoolhouse of what is now Bissendorf, where his mother found a
teaching position. Lassahn studied German in Marburg and
Tübingen. Since 1979 he has dedicated himself entirely to his
writing. He has published novels, short stories, poems,
non-fiction and radio-plays.
Lassahn gained a reputation as a children’s author
through his 'Käpt’n Blaubär' stories. Together with Walter Moers
and Rolf Silber he wrote 104 episodes, which were broadcast during the
'Sendung mit der Maus' and nine 'Käpt’n Blaubär' books. In his
essays 'Lügen in Zeiten des Farbfernsehens', Lassahn says he prefers
writing books to screenplays, but dodges the question of whether
television or books are more suitable to animate a child’s imagination,
or whether they both ultimately radiate the same magic. "The
agony and the joy of every child, gifted or not, lies in the fact that
play can still be serious." In any case, children appear to be
just as sceptical of adults’ praise of the printed word as parents are
of childlike enthusiasm for moving pictures. "Do you know what,
Dad?" the author’s daughter remarked, "Books don’t always tell the
truth either."
The fact that Lassahn is now writing more for
children again is related to his rediscovery of his own childhood.
He has been working on some manuscripts for almost 30
years. In 1980 his achievements were honoured with the Salzburger
Stier. In 1985 Lassahn received a grant from the Hamburg cultural
authorities and was Otterndorf writer in residence in 1990. His
book 'Der Schatz der Bananenbieger' won an award from the Bremen
Leseclub in 1999. The author lives in Hamburg.
© international literature festival berlin
Bernhard Lassahn online: www.bernhard-lassahn.de
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