I quit my job with German public radio after my assignment for the US Westcoast ended in 2008. Since then, I am on a path back to creative writing, to making up stories, to going from reporter voice to deep voice, to being personal and vulnerable, to playing with words. Auf Deutsch and in English. What started as a few steps here and there has turned into a daily routine. I hope I never give up on it again. Do you also want to write poetry and/or prose? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I would love to support you in your quest.
Author: Kerstin Zilm
My first published book in English takes readers on roller coaster rides through love and loss, death and life, dreams and small perfect moments.
I took notes for these poems and short stories in California during a year of record fires, destructive rains and blossoms of wildflowers visible from space. In my life it was a year of confronting death with an open heart while embarking on a journey of many new beginnings.
Author: Kerstin Zilm
My book about events and encounters I had as freshly arrived correspondent in Los Angeles. From trips along the coast, into the desert, to San Francisco and to National Parks to surprises within the city of Los Angeles. I write about meeting celebrities and about getting the chance to contact aliens on desert campgrounds. I describe how even constant traffic jams and bureaucracy did not deter me from exploring California. Hopefully this book will leave you with the desire to pack your bags and start your own California adventure.
Authors: Die Weltreporter, i.a. Kerstin Zilm
Donald Trump’s fans loved his campaign chant "Build that wall!” But not only in the United States are we in an era of walls and border controls. Today, there are more than three times as many border fences, walls and barriers worldwide as were during the Cold War. All in all, they are 41,000 km long.
weltreporter have traveled along these borders on different continents. They have visited construction sites and talked with architects, entrepreneurs and politicians, border guards, smugglers and refugees.
For my story, I met a family that has been separated by the US-Mexico border for 17 years. At a fence they can see but not touch each other. I also accompany a photographer who documents the changes at the border. She took me to a place where I could see Trump's wall prototypes up close.
Authors: Die Weltreporter, i.a. Kerstin Zilm
Refugees are found everywhere in the world. The whole globe is in motion. People are escaping from war and violence, from inequality and prosecution, fearing the destruction of their home land and a bad future for their children. The United Nations Refugee Agency registered 60 million refugees in 2015. The Weltreporter met refugees all over the world and wrote down their stories. They also documented ideas and plans about how to meet those changes with innovative ideas.
For my story, I accompany a mother from El Salvador and her son who followed her to Los Angeles. Lidia left the shadows of her life as an undocumented immigrant to represent him in court. They tell me about their dangerous trips to the North, their disappointments, hopes and courageous steps to fulfill their 'American Dream'.
Authors: Die Weltreporter, i.a. Kerstin Zilm
Yes, they do exist - realized utopias. Weltreporter tell the stories of small and gigantic steps out of society into a new world. Of projects and alternative societies at the edge of globalization. Of people, who went for realizing their dreams of a better life, here and now against all odds.
I visited town of campers, tents and RVs in the California desert close to the Mexican border. “Slab City” calls itself the last free space in the USA. Without connections to power, water and infrastructure they face daily struggles of survival. Drug dealers and smugglers regularly cross their territory, but the revolutionaries, outcasts and artists find a creative way to live according to their own rules. Slab City’s residents talk to me about their reasons to leave behind houses, jobs and families. I attend one of the legendary concerts under a sky full of stars and get a better understanding of what it means to live an utopian life.
