Jörn Jacob Rohwer

Jörn Jacob Rohwer (* 1965 in Rendsburg ) is a German Judaist , educator and publicist .

Life

Jörn Jacob Rohwer became known through his biographical conversations with personalities from art, literature, science and society. In journalism, these texts are an exception, as they oscillate between literature and journalism. Rohwer's interlocutors included a. Arthur Miller , David Hockney , Susan Sontag , Elliott Carter , Paloma Picasso , Nobel Prize winners like Doris Lessing and Imre Kertész , Oscar winners like the feature and documentary directors Terry Sanders , Volker Schlöndorff and the actor Maximilian Schell , as well as the controversial director Leni Riefenstahl or Guy Baron de Rothschild , who granted Rohwer the only biographical interview published during his lifetime. Rohwer was called the “master of the interview” in 2005 after the publication of his book Behind the Fame. Talks (Steidl) with which, in the opinion of the critics, he succeeded in transforming “a journalistic genre into literature”.

Rohwer graduated from University College London . He was a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service , Villa Aurora and Duke University, after completing a journalistic training in the editorial offices of ZDF , SFB and Die Zeit . He gave readings and lectures in Germany and the USA and taught a.o. a. at the Berlin University of the Arts . Funded by various foundations, his work has been published in renowned publishers, newspapers, magazines and anthologies, translated into several languages ​​and archived by the Huntington Library in San Marino (California) . In autumn 2011 Rohwer's conversation-based biography Veruschka (about the well-known German artist Vera Gräfin von Lehndorff ) was published by DuMont . The book was able to place itself in the relevant bestseller lists. In the spring of 2014, an extensive collection of biographical conversations that Rohwer had between 1995 and 2010 was published by Salis Verlag , lavishly designed and illustrated . This edition was presented for the first time at the Leipzig Book Fair. As early as May 2014, the book made it onto the Süddeutsche Zeitung 's best non-fiction book . In September 2015 Rohwer was awarded the German Biography Prize. From late 2016 to 2019, the author worked on biographical essays and conversations about the life and work of Steven D. Lavine, President of the California Institute of the Arts (1988-2017) and, since 2018, founding director of Thomas Mann House (both Los Angeles). The 200-page, illustrated, linen-bound publication is planned for June 2020 at deGruyter at Deutsches Kunstverlag.

bibliography

Books

• Failure is what it's all about. Steven Lavine - A Life devoted to Leadership in the Arts . Biography in essays and conversations. Deutscher Kunstverlag / DeGruyter, Berlin 2020, ISBN 978-3-422-98155-3
• Reflections on a Soul. Lyrical essay about the photographic art works of Dale Grant. Fading Beauty , Kerber, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-7356-0542-9
• The seismography of questioning. Biographical conversations . Illustrated bibliophile edition of collected conversations from 1995–2010. Salis, Zurich / Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-906195-07-0 .
• Veruschka. My life. Biography in conversations. About the German artist Vera Gräfin von Lehndorff . DuMont, Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-8321-9553-3 .
• Behind the fame. Biographical conversations with artists and intellectuals. Steidl Verlag, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 978-3-86521-244-3 .
• As a co-author of Ralf Dahrendorf : Liberal and independent. Gerd Bucerius and his time. CH Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-596-15942-3 .
• The injustice of late birth. About the contradicting attitude of the New Left towards Israel and the Jews in Germany in the post-war years . MA dissertation, University College London, London 1994.
• As co-author: Senate Department for Social Affairs - Foreigners Commissioner (ed.): Protective Laws Against Ethnic Discrimination - International Consultation of the Evangelical Academy Tutzing and the Foreigners Commissioner of the Senate of Berlin . 1st edition. Senate Department for Social Affairs - Commissioner for Foreigners, Berlin 1993.
• Jewish identity in Germany today - between social convergence and separation . Diploma thesis, University of Bremen, Bremen 1992.

Anthologies

• The last witness . Biographical conversation with Edward Upward . In: Geistesblüten . Authors' bookstore, Berlin 2011, pp. 88–104.
• Una vita imprevedibile . Biographical conversation with Inge Feltrinelli . In: IngeFilm , Gianciacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Milan 2010, pp. 40-69.
• Innocence? Nebbich! Biographical conversation with Hans Keilson . In: Hans Keilson (100) . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, pp. 9–40.
• Beyond memory. A Polemic about being Lost Autobiographical Essay. In: The Conscious Reader . Pearson Longman, New York 2008, pp. 745-762.
• The Art of Conversation. How spoken words turn into writing. Essay. In: The Conscious Reader . Pearson Longman, New York 2007, pp. 244-249.
• I've never been a hero . Biographical conversation with Arthur Miller . In: The Conscious Reader . Pearson Longman, New York 2007, pp. 250-260.
• Secret . Autobiographical essay. In: Glitter and be Gay . Männerschwarm Verlag, Hamburg 2007, pp. 85–87.
• The illusion of immortality . Biographical conversation with George Tabori . In: The playmaker. Conversations . Wagenbach Verlag, Berlin 2004, pp. 121–129.

Web links

• Literature by and about Jörn Jacob Rohwer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Web presence of Jörn Jacob Rohwer