Der neue Bereich unseres Portals macht es sich zum Anliegen, die internationalen Literaturszenen Berlins zu kartographieren, die handelnden Personen und ihre Schauplätze sichtbar und zugänglich zu machen. 
Die Entstehung der Rubrik wurde durch eine Förderung des Hauptstadtkulturfonds ermöglicht. 

Andrea Scrima

Vita

Andrea Scrima is the author of A Lesser Day (Spuyten Duyvil, 2nd ed. 2018); the German edition (Wie viele Tage) was published by Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz, in 2018. The German edition of her second book, Like Lips, Like Skins, was published by Droschl in the fall of 2021 under the title of Kreisläufe. Scrima has works in several anthologies, including Wreckage of Reason (Spuyten Duyvil) and Strange Attractors (University of Massachusetts Press). She is the recipient of a writer’s fellowship from the Berlin Senate for Cultural Affairs as well as several research grants, and writes a monthly column for Three Quarks Daily. Scrima has written essays for The American Scholar, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, LitHub, The Millions, Times Literary Supplement, Schreibheft, manuskripte, The Brooklyn Rail, and others. She is editor-in-chief of the online literary magazine StatORec and published the anthology Writing the Virus, a New York Times Sunday Book Review “New & Noteworthy” title of 2021. Residencies at Schloß Salem (Überlingen), Ledig House / Art Omi (New York), and the Villa Romana (Florence); 2023 at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Taos NM. 

6 Questions

What brought you to Berlin? Love? World politics? Or was it a coincidence?

I came to Berlin on a scholarship to the University of the Arts in the fall of 1984. I never planned on staying, of course.


What do you love about Berlin?

The history that is present everywhere; the knowledge of the political past.


What do you miss in Berlin?

My personal roots.


What is your favorite spot in Berlin?

My bed.


Would you say you are a different person in Berlin? A different translator? And if yes, in what way?

Had I stayed in New York, had I not spent most of my adult life overseas, I would probably be a completely different person.


Which existing literary work do you wish you had written?

“No One” by Gwenaelle Aubry.

Awards

2023  Writing fellow at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Taos NM
2022  Initiativstipendium, Deutscher Übersetzerfonds
2021  Research grant, Senate of Berlin
2020  Research grant, Senate of Berlin
2011  Writing fellow at Ledig House, New York, founded by Heinrich Maria Ledig-Rowohlt
2010  Second prize in the National Glimmer Train Fall Fiction Open
2007  National Hackney Literary Award
2004  Author’s grant, Senate of Berlin

Scrima has received numerous awards for her artistic work, including a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (1989/1990) and the Lingen Art Prize (Kunstverein Lingen, Germany; 1996). She has been represented in exhibitions at numerous institutions and commercial galleries internationally.

Work

Publications in german

Publications in original language

Strange Attractors

University of Massachusetts Press, 2018 anthology

A Lesser Day

Spuyten Duyvil Press, Brooklyn, New York, 2010 novel

Wreckage of Reason II: Back to the Drawing Board

Spuyten Duyvil Press, Brooklyn, New York, 2014 anthology of experiential literature

Translated publications

Kreisläufe

Literaturverlag Droschl, Graz, 2021 Novel

Editorship

Writing the Virus

Outpost 19 Books, San Francisco, CA, 2020 Anthology