Ruth-Maria Thomas: Die schönste Version

In the organizer's words:

"Our fall was a summer of the century until November": Jella loves Yannick, a lot. Yannick loves Jella, also very much. They recognize each other. They do things differently. They do it right. Until it tips over.

Now Jella is lying in her old childhood bedroom "with a throbbing throat and an enraptured feeling", wondering how it could have come to this, taking another closer look at her upbringing in Lusatia. Small towns and gravel pits, lip gloss and eye shadow. To friends who carried her through so much. And to that moment when Yannick's hands closed around her neck.

The most beautiful version is an introspection: Ruth-Maria Thomas writes about becoming a woman, being a woman, about bodies, desires and deep abysses. With stylistic brilliance, great ease and freedom, she tells of the most beautiful things. And the most terrible. An extraordinary, powerful debut.

Trigger warning:

"In her debut novel, Ruth-Maria Thomas tells full of warmth about love and friendships, unsparingly about domestic violence and power." You can read more about it in the interview. https://www. rowohlt.de/magazin/im-gespraech/ruth-maria-thomas-im-interview

Ruth-Maria Thomas, born in 1993 and raised in Cottbus, worked as a social worker in youth welfare. She studied at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig and is co-founder of the erotic literary magazine Hot Topic! In 2022 she was a finalist in the Open Mike. In her texts, which appear on the radio and in literary magazines, she repeatedly deals with the pitfalls of female socialization. Most recently, her short story Glitzer was published in DAS GRAMM and wie ich frau bin by SuKuLTuR.