She has become famous for her drawings: The artist Isabel Kreitz made a name for herself with her comic adaptation of Uwe Timm's "Die Entdeckung der Currywurst". She is now the university's 2012 poetry professor.
Her own contemporary historical stories such as "Die Sache mit Sorge" (2008) and "Haarmann" (2010) have also been widely recognised. With her lecture "Dachboden als geistiger Lebensraum. Comics by Isabel Kreitz", the Hamburg-based author will open the poetry lectures on Wednesday, 23 May in the library hall (Haarentor campus). She will explain how she graphically realises literature in comic panels and talk about her approaches to children's and young adult literature.
Kreitz has been working intensively on children's books by Erich Kästner since 2008. With her picture sequences for "Der 35. Mai" (2008), she set a milestone in the comic narration of children's literature. In 2008, she was awarded the Max and Moritz Prize in the best German-language comic category. "Pünktchen und Anton" (2010) will be followed this year by the graphic realisation of "Emil and the Detectives". Kreitz is particularly interested in developing new ways of reading the story. For her, comics are an interactive medium: "The most important thing is not the picture, but what happens between two pictures. The reader has to think along." Kreitz studied at the Kunsthochschule für Gestaltung in Hamburg and at the Parsons School of Design in New York. She then worked on the cartoon "Ottifanten".
This year's three poetry lectures, organised by the Research Centre for Children's and Young Adult Literature and the Institute for German Studies, will focus on comics and literature. The Berlin illustrator and cartoonist Flix (real name: Felix Görmann) will continue the lecture series with his reflections on 29 October and 1 November, both at 6.15 pm.
Since 2004, authors of books for children and young people have been presenting their works in poetry lectures. The lectures from the last three years (Lutz van Dijk, Alexa Hennig von Lange and Andreas Steinhöfel) have now been published by BIS-Verlag. The lectures are open to the public and free of charge.
Further events as part of the 2012 Poetry Professorship (each from 6.15 to 7.45 p.m., Library Hall, Haarentor campus):
29 October: "N.N." Flix
1. November: "N.N." Flix
