Dr. Kristine von Soden was born in Hamburg and spent many years working on biographies of Jewish scientists, writers and artists in the Weimar Republic as a feature author for NDR and DLF and as a lecturer at Hamburg University. Prominent names among them spent their summer vacations on the Baltic Sea in Ahrenshoop. Since her childhood, the doctor of humanities and author has been closely connected and familiar with the Baltic Sea and the North Frisian Islands. This has resulted in several books, such as "Stille Winkel auf Fischland, Darß und Zingst" and "Ahrenshoop. Balancing on the sea foam line".

Dr. Kristine von Soden has regularly offered her popular writing workshops and literary evening walks on the Hohe Ufer in the Baltic resort of Ahrenshoop for several years.

Dates and topics of all readings in 2025

17.04. | 19.00 hrs | How beautiful! -How beautiful: Fischland, Darß and Zingst in literary form (Ellert & Richter Verlag, Hamburg 2023)

The Baltic Sea peninsula, richly endowed by nature, not only inspired people to paint, draw or watercolor. The silvery light, the fairytale-like Darß Forest and the tranquil Bodden landscape have always provided material for writing. The examples carefully selected by the author range from the early 19th century to the present day: travelogues, memories, letters and poems. The collection is rounded off with texts about the unique natural surroundings - in the spirit of the Fischland chronicler Käthe Miethe, who never tired of repeating: "How beautiful! - How beautiful!"

08.05. | 19.00 hrs | "Writing by the sea. Where the sky is bigger" (Transit Buchverlag, Berlin 2024)

NOTE: On May 8, the reading will take place in the Käthe-Miethe-Bibliothek (Bernhard-Seitz-Weg 11).

The sea: probably the most beautiful place for many to put stories and thoughts on paper, to sketch dream paths. Breathtaking infinity, cloudy ships, shimmering light. Rhythmically rushing waves, dancing sunbeams, twinkling stars on the iridescent blue-green water. Kristine von Soden, who has been intimately familiar with the North Sea and Baltic Sea since her childhood, presents a very individual selection from the world of literature in her book: Else Lasker-Schüler, George Grosz, Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Günter Grass, Siegfried Lenz, Katherine Mansfield, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Simone de Beauvoir, Max Frisch and others.With a fine feel for the respective natural backdrops, she adds dazzling poetic finds from other pens to her portraits. A reading pleasure along the German coasts with forays into Mediterranean sea spheres.

05.06. | 19.00 | "I lie on the shore like a crocodile ..." - A literary evening about Albert Einstein in Ahrenshoop

He was the most famous guest of all time in Ahrenshoop when he stayed in the Dorfstraße for a summer retreat in 1918 and returned in 1920. To this day, however, there is little to say about Albert Einstein in the former artists' colony that would have pleased the inventor of the theory of relativity. After all, he loved seclusion and anonymity. From the wealth of biographical evidence on the "genius of the century", Dr. phil. Kristine von Soden paints a dazzling portrait of the passionate sailor who couldn't swim, preferred to go barefoot on beach walks with a rucksack and took his violin with him everywhere on the Baltic Sea (whether on Hiddensee, in Wustrow, Scharbeutz or on the Kiel Fjord) - whistling at the "so-called" world.

03.07. | 19.00 | "With a thousand salty sea greetings!" - A literary evening on the Baltic Sea travels of the painter and graphic artist George Grosz

Since his childhood in Stolp in Pomerania, the Baltic Sea has become the landscape of his soul. From Stolpmünde and Leba to the island of Hiddensee, Fischland, Darß and Zingst, the painter, graphic artist and satirical denouncer of the Weimar Republic knew the Baltic Sea coast like the back of his hand. He passionately dug sandcastles, carved washed-up wood for his two boys, bathed and lazed on the beach with his wife Eva - always as a respite from the political hostilities that eventually forced him into exile in the USA in 1933. In several of her books, Grosz admirer Dr. phil. Kristine von Soden has dealt in particular with his letters from the Baltic Sea, works of writing art, from which she creates a humorous and thought-provoking literary evening "With a thousand salty sea greetings!".

07.08. | 19.00 hrs | "But you are the harbor..." - A literary evening on Mascha Kaléko

Mascha Kaléko, the child of emigrants from Galicia, was hymnally revered in Berlin during the Weimar Republic for her "Gebrauchslyrik" poetry about love and longing, farewell, melancholy and loneliness, spiced with charming wit, political acumen and melancholy wisdom. To this day, her poetry and prose have lost none of their topicality. In a world that is increasingly coming apart at the seams, her delicate, clever verses and butterfly-light linguistic fantasies offer more support than ever - selected by Dr. Kristine von Soden for a special literary evening, which will also include Mascha Kaléko's "Feine Pflänzchen".

NOTE: On August 7, the reading will take place at the Käthe-Miethe-Bibliothek (Bernhard-Seitz-Weg 11).

04.09. | 19.00 | "Writing by the sea. Where the sky is bigger" (Transit Buchverlag, Berlin 2024)

For many, the sea is probably the most beautiful place to put stories and thoughts on paper, to sketch out dream paths. Breathtaking infinity, cloudy ships, shimmering light. Rhythmically rushing waves, dancing sunbeams, twinkling stars on the iridescent blue-green water. Kristine von Soden, who has been intimately familiar with the North Sea and Baltic Sea since her childhood, presents a very individual selection from the world of literature in her book: Else Lasker-Schüler, George Grosz, Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Günter Grass, Siegfried Lenz, Katherine Mansfield, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Simone de Beauvoir, Max Frisch and others.With a fine feel for the respective natural backdrops, she adds dazzling poetic finds from other pens to her portraits. A reading pleasure along the German coasts with forays into Mediterranean sea spheres.