What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on my next (fourth) novel. In a certain way, it is connected to the city, since my main characters are East-European women who work as prostitutes in Western Europe. Besides, one of the places I have in mind when I am writing about these situations is precisely a street here in Berlin. Presently, I am in the middle of the writing process: I already wrote a lot of things, but I try to build the best architecture to hosting all this material. It is like doing a mental puzzle, but without having the guarantee that a solution does really exist.

How does your stay in the Literary Colloquium Berlin affect you and your work?
Living in a place which is dedicated to literature helps a lot to believe I will resolve my puzzle! Here you can feel that it is very normal and common to be a writer, which is not always true in everyday life. Moreover, since I don’t speak German, these days I feel like a child in the world of adults: I don’t understand anything in the street or in other public places. And to be honest, it has something very relaxing – and of course a bit dangerous –, because it gives me the illusion I have no responsibility and I am totally free.

What experiences will you take home?
One month is enough to build a new lifestyle, so now I feel like it is very normal to live here and I will probably be a bit lost when going back home! But for sure I will bring home a lot of great memories from the peaceful environment, from conversations with the staff and with my fellow residents. And of course, in my computer, there will be a lot of new pieces of text and hopefully also the beautiful 3D plan of my next novel.

The interview took place in February 2019.