Daniela Dröscher: Sprechen

Daniela Dröscher’s deeply personal story of self-empowerment—from a silent woman to one who speaks out in public. And the question of how we should speak in order to truly understand one another. 

For the writer Daniela Dröscher, speaking was never a harmless means of communication. As the child of a newcomer to the Hunsrück region, caught between Standard German and a broad Palatinate dialect, speaking proved to be such a double-edged act of adaptation that she preferred to remain silent. Even later in life, outside of her private sphere, she long lacked the courage to stand up for her own words; her fear of being perceived as a social climber or misunderstood was simply too great. With radical candor, she recounts her journey from a woman who remained shamefully silent to one who speaks publicly. In doing so, she reflects on whether the very willingness to be misunderstood might in fact be the essential prerequisite for true understanding and a productive social dialogue.

“A plea to use language to unite rather than divide, and to listen to one another with generosity. A message that is as important as it is urgent.” Marie Varela, eliport.de, April 22, 2026

Daniela Dröscher, born in 1977, grew up in Rhineland-Palatinate and lives in Berlin. She writes prose, essays, and plays. After studying German language and literature, philosophy, and English language and literature in Trier and London, she earned her doctorate at the University of Potsdam with a dissertation on Yoko Tawada’s poetics. “Zeige deine Klasse” was published in 2018, and “Lügen über meine Mutter” was shortlisted for the German Book Prize in 2022. Her most recent novel, “Junge Frau mit Katze,” was published in 2025.