Ute Cohen

Ute Cohen (born 1966) is a German writer, journalist and moderator based in Berlin. She has published novels, essays and non-fiction works that explore themes such as social relations, violence and aspects of contemporary culture.[1][2]

She moderates the literary and cultural event series Cohen’s Club in Berlin and contributes interviews and essays to various German newspapers and magazines.[2][3]

Life

Cohen studied linguistics and history and received a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Germany’s national scholarship foundation for gifted students.[1] She later completed a doctorate in linguistics.[1][4]

Before establishing herself as an author, Cohen worked in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Paris for international management consultancies and a United Nations organisation and also advised company founders as a communications consultant.[1][2] She subsequently moved to Berlin, where she has been active as a freelance writer, journalist and moderator; her interviews and essays appear in German newspapers and magazines.[4]

Cohen has conducted long-form interviews with cultural figures, including French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant.[5] She also took part in a published conversation with French novelist Michel Houellebecq in 2023, together with historian David Engels, as documented by the German newspaper Die Tagespost.[6]

Works

Novels

  • Satans Spielfeld. Septime Verlag, 2017.[7]
  • Poor Dogs. Septime Verlag, 2020.[8][9]
  • Falscher Garten. Septime Verlag, 2022.[10]

Conversation/Interview Record

  • Chaos? Hinhören, Singen. Conversation with Ingrid Caven. Kampa Verlag, 2021.[11]

Non-fiction / Essays

  • Der juristische "Bedeutungswandel": linguistische Überlegungen zu Stasis und Dynamik im Rechtssystem. Dissertation (Erlangen), 1994.
  • Der Geschmack der Freiheit. Reclam, Stuttgart 2024.[12][13][14]
  • Glamour. Über das Wagnis, sich kunstvoll zu inszenieren. Zu Klampen Verlag, 2025.[15]

Reception

Cohen’s novels have received coverage in German literary and cultural media. In its review of Falscher Garten, Deutschlandfunk described the work as a grotesquely exaggerated Berlin story with black humour.[16] The journal literaturkritik.de similarly emphasised the novel’s macabre tone and use of grotesque elements.[17]

CulturMag reviewed both Satans Spielfeld and Poor Dogs, noting their engagement with themes of social hierarchy, economic pressure and interpersonal violence.[7][9]

Her non-fiction book Der Geschmack der Freiheit has been discussed in several cultural outlets. FrontRowSociety and Leseschatz described it as examining culinary traditions in a broader cultural context,[12][13] and taz featured the book in a public talk on German food culture.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Chernysheva, Daria (12 December 2024). "Dr. Ute Cohen: "The Extraordinary Prevails" – On Creativity, Economics, And Transformation". Brainz Magazine.
  2. 1 2 3 "About". Cohen's Club (in German). 19 November 2022.
  3. ↑ "Cohen's Club No. 9 – Micaela Jary". Sherin.Art. 26 September 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Ute Cohen". Kampa Verlag (in German). Retrieved 2025-11-17.
  5. ↑ "Interviews". Cohen’s Club (in German). 18 November 2022. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
  6. ↑ Tagespost, Die (2023-07-16). "Die Tagespost". die-tagespost.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  7. 1 2 "Joachim Feldmann: Ute Cohen "Satans Spielfeld"". CulturMag (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-05-22. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  8. ↑ "Poor Dogs (German Edition)". Goodreads. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  9. 1 2 "Jeannine Fiedler: "Poor Dogs" von Ute Cohen".
  10. ↑ "Andrea Noack liest "Falscher Garten" von Ute Cohen". CulturMag (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-07-16. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  11. ↑ "Ute Cohen: Gespräch mit Ingrid Caven". CulturMag (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-05-18. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  12. 1 2 Grenda, Matthias (2024-08-09). "Buchrezension: Der Geschmack der Freiheit. Eine Geschichte der Kulinarik". FrontRowSociety - The Magazine (in German). Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  13. 1 2 "Ute Cohen: "Der Geschmack der Freiheit"". leseschatz (in German). 2024-07-30. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  14. 1 2 "taz Talk über deutsche Kulinarik: Der Geschmack der Freiheit". taz.de (in German). 2025-01-16. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  15. ↑ Tagespost, Die (2025-03-24). "Die Tagespost". die-tagespost.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  16. ↑ deutschlandfunk.de (2022-10-12). "Ute Cohen: "Falscher Garten" - Die Hexen vom Grunewald". Deutschlandfunk (in German). Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  17. ↑ Rönsch, Von Rainer. "Makabre Tonnenideologie - Ute Cohen lässt in ihrem schwarzhumorigen Roman "Falscher Garten" gleich fünf Frauen umbringen : literaturkritik.de". literaturkritik.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-11-22.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.