Elisabeth Steinkellner (born in Lower Austria in 1981) was the first author to be invited to the Poetry Talks on Children's and Young Adult Literature in Oldenburg in summer 2023. She trained as a social pedagogue and studied cultural and social anthropology in Vienna before becoming a successful author of books for children and young people. She has been known for more than a decade for her poetry, short stories and novels for children and young people. She has already received the Austrian Children's and Youth Book Prize for both her poetry collection "Die Nacht, der Falter und ich" (2016) and her young adult novel "Esther und Salomon" (2021). She has also won the Hans im Glück Prize and the Feldkirch Poetry Prize, among others. Her sketch and diary novel "Papierklavier" (2020) was also nominated for the German Youth Literature Prize. The latter was also increasingly a topic of discussion in the press and literary criticism in 2021, as there were disputes surrounding the awarding of the Catholic Children's and Youth Book Prize. The non-awarding of the book prize - the Standing Council of the Bishops' Conference had vetoed the decision - triggered a wide range of reactions.

For this reason, among others, it was particularly interesting to talk to Elisabeth Steinkellner about the functions of children's and young adult literature in today's society and about the poetological premises of writing. In co-operation with the Oldenburg House of Literature, the Oldenburg Research Centre for Children's and Young Adult Literature organised an event - consisting of a reading and a discussion - with the author on 21 June 2023 at 7:30 pm in Wilhelm 13. The event was moderated by Thomas Boyken, Professor of Children's and Young Adult Literature at the University of Oldenburg. The transcription of the conversation that Elisabeth Steinkellner and Thomas Boyken held at the Literaturhaus Oldenburg can be found here: https: //www.oldenburg.de/startseite/kultur/literaturhaus/seismograf.html

The following day, on 22 June 2023, a podcast was also recorded together with Master's students of German Studies, which can now be heard here.