Rita Bullwinkel
Picador Guest Professor in the summer semester of 2024
Rita Bullwinkel is the author of Headshot, a novel, and Belly Up, a story collection that won the Believer Book Award. The recipient of a 2022 Whiting Award, she is the editor of McSweeney’s Quarterly, a contributing editor at NOON, and an assistant professor of English at University of San Francisco, where she teaches courses on creative writing, zines, and the uses of invented and foreign languages as tools for world building. At the Institute for American Studies at the University of Leipzig, Rita Bullwinkel teached two seminars.
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« Fight like Nobody’s watching: Rita Bullwinkel on sports & memory »
On the 18th of June 2024 we had the pleasure to host Rita Bullwinkel on stage of the GfZK (Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst) in Leipzig! Hosted was the event by author and moderator Svenja Gräfen.
With suspense and quite a lot of laughter the audience followed the great ideas & connections Rita drew between childhood games and the way we grow into competitions, between self and external perception. Rita made valid points about the way we judge different sportive activities in society, why we count them as “girls” or “boys” sports, why she chose boxing as an literary element in her newest Novel “Headshot”.
Very interesting, and a great little inside info, was Ritas approache about the Bookcover, as she pays a great deal of attention to the way we portray women and girls bodies. Therefore Rita decided to do the photoshoot for the “Headshot” Cover on her own, in her livingroom with a befriended photographer and young boxers from San Francisco. We love the photos and all these different Covers on the market displaying the young athlets so neutral and serious! Thanks for sharing this with us and the audience that evening, Rita!
The photos were taken by Andreas Lamm.
German Book Release Headshot – Schlaglicht
With Rita Bullwinkel, Christiane Neudecker and Teresa Bücker
What a colorful evening! On July 16th we celebrated the German Book Release of “Headshot”, translated as “Schlaglicht”, with Rita Bullwinkel and the translator Christiane Neudecker at the English Theatre in Berlin. The event was moderated by Teresa Bücker who guided us fantastically through an insightful and multifaceted conversation about the translation process, the topic of female boxing in literature and more.
Even though Rita and Christiane had their first encounter on that same day, their conversation and thought exchange felt like they had known each other for a long time. It was interesting to learn about their personal history with competitive sports (Waterball sounds crazy violent but also extreme cool to watch) and how it changed their view of their own bodies and of others.
And of course there were amazing readings! In German and in English, Rita and Christiane read alternating a voiceless dialogue between competitors. With words being thrown like punches the audience felt rightaway in the Ring! They got into the minds and thoughts of Rachel and Kate, two of the eight boxing girls at the fictional Tournament in Rita’s Book🥊 the room overfloated with energy!
We are incredibly grateful to our panelists for sharing their interesting perspectives. Thank you and Danke!
The photos were taken by Kevin Fuchs.
