Best selling author to visit St Andrews

A best-selling German author will join the ranks of the University of St Andrews’ School of Modern Languages this month as writer-in- residence.

Stefanie Zweig, whose book “Nowhere in Africa” was made into an Oscar winning film, is a German-born writer who has lived in Africa most of her life. She is the second writer to take residence for two weeks (12th March – 26th March) in St Andrews, following on from last year’s successful launch of the Writer-in- Residence programme. Author Dorothea Grünzweig was the first to be welcomed last year by the Department of German.

The programme is part of a number of initiatives organised by the Department in an effort to heighten the profile of language study and maintain interest in the learning of foreign languages. Previous outreach efforts have included a free play in German for local school pupils and a Scottish- wide recitation competition for young school students of German.

Stefanie Zweig was born in 1932 in Oberschlesien, but in 1938 she emigrated with her family to Africa where she spent her childhood on a farm in the highlands of Kenya. While she received many awards for her children’s books, she became extremely popular with her African novels, and “Nowhere in Africa” and “Somewhere in Germany” made it onto the bestseller lists. The film version of “Nowhere in Africa” won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002.

Dr Jeff Ashcroft, Acting Chairman of the Department of German, said:

“The German Department looks forward keenly to Stefanie Zweig’s visit and we are grateful to the German Academic Exchange Service for helping to finance it. As a German-Jewish writer who spent her childhood in Africa, she raises issues in her novels and the films based on them which should interest a lot of people in St. Andrews whom we hope to welcome to the various events.”

It will be Stefanie’s first visit to St Andrews. She commented: “I know the whole of Scotland like the back of my hand – but unfortunately only second-hand and on paper because of my translation of H.V. Morton’s “The Splendour of Scotland” into German.

The programme will include events which are open to the public including film viewings of “Nirgendwo in Afrika” (“Nowhere in Africa”) on 12 March (4 pm, School VI) and 24 March (2 pm, School VI), a bi-lingual reading on 16 March (5 pm, Buchanan Building, room 305), and a talk “From Germany to Kenya and Back”: Stefanie Zweig in Conversation (22 March, Buchanan Building, room 216). Stefanie Zweig will also be involved in a film seminar at the Department of German and a School of English Creative Writing Seminar.

For further details, please contact Nadine Saupe at the Department of German, 01334 463667, email ns25@st- andrews.ac.uk

ENDS

Issued by Beattie Media On behalf of the University of St Andrews Contact Gayle Cook on 01334 467227, mobile 07900 050 103, or email [email protected] Ref: German writer in res pr 100304 View the latest University news at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk