‘Schweinebaumeln’ – Reading and discussion with Marta Dzido, Antje Ritter-Miller and Sarah Käsmayr

And can the taste of chocolates remind one of love amidst the ruins of a city?

In her nine stories, Marta Dzido explores different facets of love, eroticism and sensuality in a lustful and revealing way. She writes impressively from various perspectives – sometimes from the here and now, sometimes in retrospect, sometimes from a woman’s perspective, sometimes from a man’s – about the contradictory feelings and experiences that accompany desire and affection. In doing so, she shows how the social norms of 1990s Poland shape her characters well into adulthood, and how liberating it can be to leave them behind.

On the evening of the event, Marta Dzido will present her collection of short stories *Schweinebaumeln* (2025). Antje Ritter-Miller, who will be reading the German passages, will speak about the work involved in the translation. The event will be moderated by publisher Sarah Käsmayr. Agnieszka Grzybkowska will be the interpreter for the evening.

Marta Dzido (born 1981) is a writer, director and producer of documentary films. She has already published several novels, as well as the non-fiction book *Women of Solidarity*. Her novel *Frajda*, published in 2018, was awarded the *European Union Prize for Literature*.

Antje Ritter-Miller (born 1975) studied Polish, philosophy and Eastern European studies in Berlin, Warsaw and Wrocław. She is a translator from Polish, having translated works by authors including Sylwia Chutnik, Dorota Danielewicz and Klementyna Suchanow.

Sarah Käsmayr (born 1987) works as a book designer and graphic designer and, as co-publisher alongside her father Benno Käsmayr, runs his Maro Verlag publishing house in Augsburg, founded in 1970. Since 2021, she has been on the board of the Kurt Wolff Foundation for the promotion of a diverse publishing and literary scene.

Agnieszka Grzybkowska lives in Berlin and studied German and Dutch at the University of Warsaw. She works as a freelance translator and conference interpreter in Berlin, specialising in culture, literature, film and theatre, as well as politics, history and economics.