Before she finished her debut novel, the international publication rights were already sold. By now, her book The Trap has been published in more than 20 countries and Hollywood is working on the film adaptation. Although Melanie Raabe has become one of Germany’s most successful authors of 2015, she is still a down-to-earth young woman who has not changed her habits. Her new novel Die Wahrheit (German for ‘the truth’) has just been released.
TEXT: NADINE CARSTENS
Interviewing Melanie Raabe might seem dangerous if you are familiar with her debut novel The Trap. There, the central character Linda Conrads, who is a famous author as well, tries to trap a journalist because she believes he is her sister’s murderer. But, luckily for me, Raabe is in good spirits when we meet at a café in Cologne. As the 35-year-old author arrives, she gives me a friendly smile and makes a relaxed impression. In this cosy place, she wrote part of her successful thriller The Trap. When she does not work at home, she often goes to the Weltempfänger in the Ehrenfeld district to write and to find inspiration. “There is a quiet corner where I like to write quite often. I can concentrate here very well, while it is also possible to get into conversations with people from all over the world because there is a hostel above the café,” Raabe explains.
Her novel turned out to be a major hit worldwide, with international publishing houses scrambled to obtain the rights for the book even before it was released. At last year’s London Book Fair for example, The Trap was one of the most discussed books. Additionally, a famous film production studio acquired film rights to Raabe’s novel and Phyllis Nagy, who worked on Academy Award nominated Carol, will be the screenwriter for the film adaptation. “I don’t want to be involved in this process, because the novel already perfectly represents how I envisioned the story,” says Raabe. “I have complete confidence in Nagy and look forward to seeing her interpretation.”
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Quelle: Discover Germany, Switzerland & Austria,
http://www.discovergermany.com/?features=melanie-raabe-the-writing-machine