Das Panorama des Schreibens

“To this day, I have maintained the habit of jotting down daily chronicles, collections of ideas, or drafts for larger writing projects. On the occasion of my 75th birthday, I am sharing more details about this for the first time and opening up my long-hidden, private archive.” Hanns-Josef Ortheil

This collection of his texts and notes, housed in the Westerwald and often supplemented by photographs or illustrations, has grown over the years into a vast archive that is likely unique in German-language literature. But how do these countless short texts become literature? “The Panorama of Writing” captures a conversation that Hanns-Josef Ortheil had with his editor, Klaus Siblewski, about the broad outlines and connections within his body of work, and extends it into the present. At the same time, Hanns-Josef Ortheil presents special finds from his archive of manuscripts, discusses the significance of these treasures of creative thought for his books, and thus embarks on a fascinating journey through his own biography and to the very heart of his writing. Born in Cologne in 1951, Hanns-Josef Ortheil—a multi-award-winning writer, pianist, and longtime professor of creative writing at the University of Hildesheim—has lived in Stuttgart for many years.