Die Winterschwimmerin - Marion Poschmann und Marit Beyer
From Book to Audiobook - Reading and Conversation with Author Marion Poschmann and Speaker Marit Beyer
Moderation: Jurate Braginaite
Equipment: Malte Prokopowitsch
Thekla is exploring icy waters. As she dives into the breathtakingly clear water and grapples with the force of the cold, she finds a sense of freedom and autonomy. Then she encounters a runaway tiger.
The award-winning author Marion Poschmann tells of the excitement and joy of an extraordinary experience. In artful linguistic expression, contemporary social study merges with a wondrous legend. A verse legend that makes you eager to go ice swimming.
The book was chosen for the 'SWR Best List' and received numerous positive press reviews. The audiobook was also selected for the 'hr2 Audiobook Best List' and is nominated for the 'German Audiobook Prize 2026' in the category 'Best Narrator'. The book was published by Suhrkamp, and the audiobook by Diwan Hörbuchverlag.
Biographies
Marion Poschmann is a poet and author. She has been awarded numerous prestigious prizes for her poetry and prose, including the Bremen Literature Prize 2021 for her poetry collection Nimbus and the WORTMELDUNGEN Literature Prize in the same year. Most recently, she received the Joseph-Breitbach Prize for her body of work in 2023. She is a member of the P.E.N. Center Germany. In 2002, Marion Poschmann’s first novel 'Baden bei Gewitter' was published, and in the same year her poetry collection 'Verschlossene Kammern' came out. Many more poetry and prose publications followed.
The verse legend 'Die Winterschwimmerin' was published in 2025 by Suhrkamp Verlag and was chosen for the SWR Best List.
Marit Beyer speaks for radio and television, including for ARTE, 3sat, WDR, and SWR. She has been multiple times selected for the hr2 Audiobook Best List with her recorded audiobooks and nominated for the German Audiobook Prize in the category "Best Narrator". In addition, she can be seen in readings and stage productions and has been invited to, among others, the Literaturhaus Stuttgart, the International Literature Festival lit.COLOGNE, Maison Heinrich Heine Paris, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Cologne Philharmonie, and the Vienna Concert Hall. Since 2015, she has been teaching at the Institute for Speech Art and Communication Pedagogy.
Jūratė Braginaitė produces features, radio plays, and location-based audio works. For her work “Vogel Igel Stachelschwein – a game in Weimar North,” she was awarded the ARD Radio Play Prize 2023. When she is not engaged in radio art, she works as a speaker and voice and speech trainer. Since 2025, she has been teaching the subject Media Speech at the Institute for Speech Art and Communication Pedagogy.
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Festival of Speaking: Rhetoric – Speaker Education – Science
Speaking is more than words: sound, posture, encounter, and art.
Over two intensive days, our festival dedicates itself to the diversity of speaking – from the personal voice to the societal impact of language. In workshops and lectures with experts from practice, science, and art, we invite you to discover new perspectives and engage in dialogue. Both evenings of the festival promise top-notch speech art: at the Poetry Slam "Dead or Alive," living slam poets compete against dead poets, represented by students of speech art. Following the reading of "Die Winterschwimmerin," author Marion Poschmann and audiobook narrator Marit Beyer will talk about how written and spoken words can create a work of art that made it onto the longlist of the German Audiobook Prize 2026!
The festival is aimed at everyone interested in language, voice, and expression – whether professionally, artistically, or out of personal curiosity. No prior knowledge is required.
Come by, listen, speak up, and discover the various facets of voice!
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
