Katharina Volckmer

Katharina Volckmer is nothing if not a risk-taker. Her two fearlessly irreverent and subversively funny novels are dark, incisive explorations of the interplay between gender and national identity. Her 2020 book The Appointment, which has been translated into over 15 languages, is the raucous monologue of a woman spread open on a gynecologist’s chair in more ways than one. With brutal honesty and zero regard for propriety, she unburdens herself to the doctor examining her: she expresses disgust for her female body, describes the shame she feels as a German woman, and boldly wades into taboo issues. Her second work, Calls May be Recorded for Training and Monitoring Purposes, published in 2024, delves deep into the indignities of the modern workplace, with the story unfolding over an 8-hour shift at a call center, where Jimmie, another protagonist uncomfortable in his own skin, works solving problems for rich holiday makers. In both books, Volckmer writes unashamedly about multiple identities, unfulfilled desires, capitalist alienation, and the many disappointments of life in the modern city. Born in Hamburg in 1987, she holds a DPhil in Modern Languages from the University of Oxford. She is now based in London where she works as a foreign rights agent and her journalism appears in various publications.