Reading with Helene Bukowski, "Who Wouldn't Want to Stay Alive?," moderated by Nils Kaben, ZDF journalist
In 1985, a young pianist in Neubrandenburg takes her own life. Decades later, the writer Helene Bukowski stumbles upon her story. She approaches Christina with care, searching her biography for cracks and upheavals, but also for moments of great happiness. She meets a father who wants to realize his own dreams through his daughter, a mother who loves to take photographs, and a piano that stands immovably in the apartment. Bukowski follows Christina to Berlin, to the specialized music school with its cold practice rooms and daily drills. Later, to Moscow, to study at the conservatory, through torrential rain and nights full of snow. And she discovers an illness for which a diagnosis has only recently been established.
Helene Bukowski, born in Berlin in 1993, studied at the Hildesheim Institute of Literature. Her debut novel, *Milchzähne*, was published in 2019 and adapted for the screen. *Die Kriegerin* followed in 2022. Her books have been widely reviewed and translated into several languages. Today, she lives as a freelance writer, back in her hometown and in Lower Lusatia.
