On 1 October, Alina Valerie Weinert, an author and actress, moved into the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel Artists’ and Fellows’ Residence as the new fellow. During her stay, she intends to make the most of the intensive working atmosphere to make significant progress on her first longer prose project. Having published numerous short stories in literary journals and anthologies, she is now turning her attention to a full-length work.
Alina Valerie Weinert was introduced to writing and developed a fascination for characters at an early age through the theatre. At the heart of her planned novel are three women from different generations: 87-year-old Lore Brenner, who has lived for decades on a remote farmstead in a small hamlet, and her granddaughters Romi and Johanna. After completing her academic thesis, Romi leaves the city to join her grandmother in the countryside. There, together with Johanna, she spends a long August, during which family history, the present and memories become increasingly intertwined. A second timeline takes us back to the early 1950s and tells the story of Lore as a young woman. The focus here is on questions of family influences, the unspoken, and the changes that are passed down through the generations.
However, what is left unsaid is also particularly important to her in the novel: the traumas of different generations, which often continue to have an impact behind the scenes.
The time she will spend at the Artists’ and Fellows’ House until the end of the year is intended to enable Weinert to devote herself to this material with the necessary peace and concentration. In doing so, she wishes not only to develop the plot further, but also to explore different narrative possibilities and refine the structure of the manuscript. This intensive writing period is thus intended to mark a decisive step towards her first longer work of prose. If everything goes according to plan, she hopes to have completed the first draft of her novel by the end of the year.
With this residency, Weinert is continuing her long-standing exploration of the intersection between theatre and literature. Her experiences as an actress and theatre scholar also shape her writing: the development of characters, the creation of specific situations and a sensitive approach to language and structure form important starting points for her literary work.
Alina Valerie Weinert believes that stories thrive on listening to the stories of others. She enjoys learning from other people and seeks out dialogue. She does not see herself as a solitary writer, but rather as someone who gains fresh inspiration for her writing through encounters, conversations and different perspectives.
More about Alina Valerie Weinert
Alina Valerie Weinert, born in 1995 and raised in Freiburg im Breisgau, now lives in Berlin. She studied theatre studies and philosophy at the Free University of Berlin and subsequently trained as an actress at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating with a diploma. From 2022 to 2024, she was engaged at theatres in Freiburg, Erlangen and Tübingen. Her literary works have been published in, amongst others, the erostepost literary magazine, *Wortlaut – Zeitschrift für Literatur in Franken* and an anthology of the district of Swabia. In 2024, she was nominated for the erostepost Literary Prize and came third in the 36th Franconian Prize for Young Literature. In 2023, she received the Erlangen Theatre Prize for her original play *Das Neinhorn*, based on the work of Marc-Uwe Kling._@_AMK