Autorinnenlesung im Landtag: Das Leben der Annemarie Böll – Eine Würdigung

"Intelligent, sensitive, tireless: Annemarie Böll was Heinrich Böll’s life partner, first editor, and intellectual companion—and a defining voice of the postwar era in her own right." — Tanja Dückers

Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Heinrich Böll and his wife Annemarie Böll formed a couple over the decades that today we would likely call a “power couple.” And from the very beginning, literature was the bond that united them.  Even during World War II, they created their first shared literary space through their correspondence. After the war ended, literature became a career for both of them: Heinrich Böll as an author and Annemarie Böll as a translator. While public attention was mostly focused on the life and work of Heinrich, the Nobel Prize laureate in Literature, little attention was paid to the work of Annemarie, the editor and translator. Yet she was not only his first—albeit informal—editor, but also a highly prolific translator of international literature (J.D. Salinger, Bernard Shaw, Patrick White, and Judith Kerr) and the mother of four sons.

In her insightful book*Das Leben der Annemarie Böll* (*The Life of Annemarie Böll*), author Tanja Dückers pays tribute to Annemarie’s life and work—which spanned nearly a century, two world wars, and four political systems—and will read and comment on excerpts from it. The subsequent discussion will be moderated by René Böll, artist and son of Annemarie and Heinrich Böll. Maria Birger will host the literary evening; she is a program officer at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in the “Heinrich Böll—Life and Work” division.

Admission is free; registration is required.
An event organized by the Green Party’s State Parliamentary Caucus in North Rhine-Westphalia in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation NRW.

Note: The reading will take place at the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament (Platz des Landtags 1, 40221 Düsseldorf) in Conference Room E1A16; please allow sufficient time for security screening upon arrival. If you wish to use the parking garage at the State Parliament, we will need your vehicle’s license plate number; please enter it in the “Comments” section when registering (spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis).

Tanja Dückersworks as a writer, journalist, and lecturer. She is a regular contributor to Deutschlandfunk and has been a columnist for the Frankfurter Rundschau and ZEIT Online.
René Böllis an artist and spokesperson for the Heinrich Böll Estate.
The book*Das Leben der Annemarie Böll* will beavailable free of charge at the event while supplies last. Alternatively, the book can be ordered through the Heinrich Böll Foundation:https://www.boell.de/de/2025/06/23/das-leben-der-annemarie-boell