editorial

Brave Days

is the motto of this newleaf. In an age of upheaval, we have dared to do the unthinkable. When it looked as if the editorial board would simultaneously sink into senility, drown in a heap of rehearsals and ram headlong into another country, we have decided to blow all our ill-gotten gains on a newlook magazine.

At 21, newleaf has made it through its very own tempest. We have saved our paper boat from going down, and it rises from the ink sea under new sails and rigging woven, twisted and spliced by ship's engineer Oliver Chrystossek. We have manned the vessel with a daring crew of authors willing to navigate beyond real and imagined horizons, among them some old seadogs, but also a few cunning new Sirens calling through the fog, such as Andrea Rick, Marzena Kubisz, and indeed Paul Hadfield, whom we shanghaied out of retirement from Theatre Ireland. We've loaded up on some delicious provisions: Ole D. Herlyn, Alan Aydelott and Julia Boll will be doing the catering in the cabin. We trade in rare and exotic goods, such as treasure chests from the past, golden shoes, four-leafed clovers, Beluga caviar, the essence of youth and even the meaning of life. Franziska Kreuser will oversee the scrubbing of the decks and the polishing of the brasses. As you travel with us, hold on tight to something well bolted down - we will pass several equators of time and space.

In May, newleaf entered and re-captured the treasure trove of Braunschweig. Once again, newleaf authors were involved in the Daniil Pashkoff Prize awards at Buchhandlung Graff in the city's pedestrian zone. Winner of the First Prize for Prose was Silke Hartmann, whom you'll find in the following pages; and the Second Prize for Prose was awarded to Julia Scheit (not a hostage on this trip, but once we rescue her from her tropical island, where she has been spied counting her pieces of eight with a parrot on her shoulder, no doubt she'll be coming home to our pages). Congratulations to both. In addition, the anthology of prize-winners 2003 to 2005, entitled Feel the Words Burning on Your Tongue, has been published, containing texts by newleaf regulars Rosi Oelke (Poetry 2003), Tatjana Pfennig (Prose 2004), Julia Scheit (Poetry 2005), and Julia Boll and Franziska Kreuser (Prose 2005). The book costs 10 Euro and is available from Writers Ink in Braunschweig: www.writers-ink.de

And so now newleaf steers an adventurous course towards new shores, always seeking to seize the most exciting and exquisite booty, hoping to reach out into the unknown: here be monsters.

contents

About the authors in newleaf 21

Alan Aydelott is a student of Linguistics and English at the University of Bremen. At present he has almost all the requisite coursework completed and really should be focusing on writing his Master's thesis, but instead he's back in the U.S. of A., driving a cab seventy hours a week. Maybe he'll write about those experiences someday, if you're lucky.

Julia Boll knew exactly what she was doing when she joined the newleaf editorial board. And it should have been obvious what was on the cards when she was taken on board. Well... Here we are, penned up aboard this ship of fools, with her at the helm and a dagger between her teeth. Now, she's jumped ship and set course for Edinburgh, it seems. Will she be able to steer the old vessel from across the raging main? Or will the other two old sea dogs use her absence for a little mutiny? Find the answers in # 22.

Paul Hadfield was, for many years, a theatre director, university teacher and Joint Managing Editor of the journal Theatre Ireland. His poetry has been published in a number of journals and magazines including Etudes Irlandaise, Critical Quarterly and Hidden Europe. Now retired, he lives on the site of an old gunpowder factory in Argyll, Scotland.

Silke Hartmann grew up in Hessen – but she doesn’t sound like it. She came to the fabulous city of Bremen in 2001 to study English, Religion and Culture and after the first two and a half weeks never regretted it again. Usually she is some­how involved in theatre and she loves travelling around the globe, the wonderful people in her life, and God. Whenever she can think of a good excuse, she returns to Ireland, where she has spent some of the happiest months of her life.

Anne Hensel has recently moved from Goettingen to Bremen University and is still a little worried about getting around the GW2 building. Writing poetry in the Creative Writing Workshop was her first try and now she’s fallen for it – almost as much as for chocolate. Studying Cultural Studies, English Literature and Art History, Anne hopes to spend her life in chaotic creativity and to get to live in New Zealand one day – not only to adopt the Kiwis’ adorable accent.

Franziska Kreuser was submitted to university in 1996 and has now reached a point where she no longer needs to be tied to her chair during lectures but will listen of her own free will. Her daily dose of cocoa injections may be safely reduced without endangering her own health and the safety of others. She has made remarkable progress and has gained the right to take guided walks around the library on her good days. We are hopeful that she may rejoin society within the next two years and will prove to be worthy of our trust.

Helle Kuhlenkamp studies English at Bremen, having already completed her second subject, East European Studies. She can speak Russian if it’s absolutely unavoidable. She lives in Bremen, which she left some years ago for Newcastle-on Tyne to study her term abroad, and learnt among other things that chip butties are still sold in Britain.

Anna Reissert has attended Bremen University since the start of the millennium. She has only once planned a successful escape and got as far as New Zealand, but handed herself in after eight months in Kiwi country. She likes creative writing classes loads, although she can rarely be bothered to write anything herself. She likes to think of herself as a successfully published author one day, but only the very confused little God of writing might know if this is ever going to be reality.

Henrik Schäfer studies English and History at Bremen, where he is also active in theatre, both as an actor and a playwright. He has recently appeared with both the Eßt company and the BremerProbenTheater. This is his second appearance in newleaf.

Julia Scheit was born in Hagen, but her decision to study English and Cultural Studies motivated her to move to the north. She joined the board of management in Spring 2004 and plans launches and readings as newleaf's events manager. Currently she is writing her Magister thesis..

Chrystalla Thoma originally comes from the Greek part of Cyprus. She studied languages in France, did her Masters in Translation in London and her PhD here at the English Department in Bremen. She has published two novels in Greek that have received a prize for young writers in Cyprus. Her father, her sister and her husband are poets as well, which keeps her on her toes.

Anna Zacharias is still in Liverpool, trying to hide her bewilderment at the Scousers’ attitude towards clothing in winter. When she comes back to Bremen, she will continue her studies of English and Cultural Studies and rejoin the newleaf event management staff. Is this really her first appearance in the magazine?