Helene Hegemann (born 19 February 1992 in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

) is a German writer, director, and actress. As a young writer her work was highly praised, but her

first novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''Axolotl Roadkill'', sparked a

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

controversy. The book has since been translated into various languages.

Life

She was raised by her divorced mother, a graphic artist and painter. After her mother's death, Hegemann moved in with her father. She began writing and first gained attention with her

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

. On 6 December 2007, her

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

, ''Ariel 15'' premiered in Berlin at Ballhaus Ost, directed by Sebastian Mauksch. Hegemann called her play a literary

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

piece. Deutschland Radio adapted it as a

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

in 2008. That same year, a

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

she wrote at 14 was developed. It was underwritten by the Federal Cultural Foundation. The resulting film, ''Torpedo'', a youth drama, premiered in 2008 at the

Hof International Film Festival The Hof International Filmfestival is a German film festival that takes place in Hof, Bavaria, every year in October. Apart from numerous foreign productions, the main focus traditionally is on German films. During six festival days, about 130 f ...

and ran in German cinemas in summer 2009. It won the Max Ophüls Prize. Hegemann credits the

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

film ''Weekend'' as a major influence on her

writing style In literature, writing style is the manner of expressing thought in language characteristic of an individual, period, school, or nation. Thus, style is a term that may refer, at one and the same time, to singular aspects of an individual's writing ...

. In 2009, Hegemann played a

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theoph ...

in the episodic film '' Germany 09'', by

Nicolette Krebitz Nicolette Krebitz (born 2 September 1972) is a German director, actress, model, and singer. She is often credited as Coco in her creative works. Life and work Nicolette Krebitz was born on 2 September 1972 in West Berlin, Germany. She made he ...

. Hegemann appeared in the segment "Die Unvollendete", where

Ulrike Meinhof Ulrike Marie Meinhof (7 October 1934 – 9 May 1976) was a German left-wing militant, journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the repute ...

and

Susan Sontag Susan Lee Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on "Camp", Notes on 'Ca ...

meet. In 2013 her second

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

''Jage zwei Tiger'' and in 2018 the third novel ''Bungalow'' were published. In 2025

Kiepenheuer & Witsch Kiepenheuer & Witsch is a German publishing house, established in 1948 by Joseph C. Witsch and Gustav Kiepenheuer. The partners initially held 30% and 40% of the company's share capital respectively. The publisher is based in Cologne, Germany an ...

published ''Striker''. Hegemann lives in Berlin.

Works

Books

*''Axolotl Roadkill'', Ullstein, 22 January 2010, *''Axolotl Roadkill / druk 1'', Translator Marcel Misset, Arbeiderspers, 2010, *''Roadkill'', Translator Isabella Amico Di Meane, Einaudi Stile Libero, 2010, *''Axolotl Roadkill'', Constable & Robinson Limited, 2012, *''Jage zwei Tiger'', Hanser, 26 August 2013, *''Bungalow'', Hanser, Berlin 2018, *''Striker'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2025,

Movies

* Torpedo 2008, (

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, Writer) * Axolotl Overkill 2017 (Director, Writer)

Life

Works

Books

Movies

See also

References

Further reading