"The good thing about writing [...]: It's an art that has so much at its disposal and you need so few materials [...]. I don't have to add any special effects or anything like that; all I need are my words." (Tamara Bach, 11 June 2024, Oldenburg)

The author Tamara Bach was invited to Oldenburg for the Poetry Talks in summer 2024. Tamara Bach was born in Limburg an der Lahn and grew up in Ludwigshöhe. She took part in literary competitions for teenagers and young adults while still at school. After a year abroad in Ireland, she studied German and English as a teacher in Mainz and later in Berlin. While still studying, she wrote for television and youth theatre.

June 2024 was not the author's first time in Oldenburg. She received the Oldenburg Children's and Youth Book Prize in 2002 for her first publication, "Martian Girl". 22 years later, she can look back on an impressive oeuvre. To date, she has written 12 books, two of which are categorised as children's books and the others as books for young people. Since then, she has not only received the Oldenburg Children's and Young People's Book Prize, but has also been honoured many times: For example, she also received the German Youth Literature Prize for "Marsmädchen" in 2004, the Catholic Children's and Youth Book Prize for "Was vom Sommer übrig ist" in 2012 and the James Krüss Prize for International Children's and Youth Literature in 2021.

Her texts are characterised by omissions, humour and 'everydayness' and offer readers plenty of room for interpretation. The author works with modern writing techniques of realistic storytelling. It was very exciting to talk to Tamara Bach about being an author and writing children's and young adult literature in the present day. On 11 June 2024, a podcast was recorded together with Master's students of German Studies, which can now be heard on this page. The following day, on 12 June 2023 at 7:30 pm, there was a public reading and discussion at the Oldenburg Literaturhaus. Thomas Boyken, Professor of Children's and Young Adult Literature at the University of Oldenburg, moderated the event.

A transcription of the conversation between Tamara Bach and Thomas Boyken can be found on the website of the House of Literature: https: //www.oldenburg.de/startseite/kultur/literaturhaus/seismograf/2024-tamara-bach.html