Self-published: Students at the University of Siegen publish a book of short stories
Students at the University of Siegen jointly organized a writing competition and produced a book with the winning short stories. Under the guidance of the university's Career Service, the seven students in the project were able to get to know real work processes and try out skills relevant to their profession. From start to finish, all steps were in the hands of the students: They determined the theme of the competition and the selection criteria, sifted through all the stories submitted and acted as a jury to select the best ones. Then it was on to book production: they edited the texts, took care of the typesetting, designed the cover and organized the printing.
The result was the short story collection "2048 - Short Stories about the Future". The book comprises eleven stories on 172 pages, including two texts in English. "I found it exciting to accompany an entire book project - from the initial concept to the finished product. Otherwise you often only see your own section," reported Mark Remisch, student jury member. "For me, it was just great to see how much energy, creativity and commitment a project like this generates," said lecturer Marcellus Menke from the Career Service, who accompanied the students throughout the entire process.
Participation in the writing competition was open to all interested parties, including those from outside the university. The majority of submissions came from students from various disciplines. The selection was supplemented by contributions from experienced authors. This gave the students the opportunity to even go through the editing process with professional writers. "Sometimes we fought for every sentence. That was a really great learning process for the students," reported Menke. For the authors, the publication of their texts in book form was the prize. There are also plans to set selected stories to music in an audio production. "I just thought it was cool to have the opportunity to publish my own story," said student author Dana Kopsan. "2048 is not a distant future - you automatically think about how to get there from today. Above all, I have learned to write to the point on a topic."
The competition's thematic bracket - a look into the near future - is reflected in very different literary forms. For example, short, condensed texts such as "Sternenmeer" stand alongside experimental narrative forms or pop-culturally charged stories such as "Winding Roads". In terms of content, dystopian perspectives predominate, but hopeful tones also flash up time and again.
The book has been published as a print-on-demand publication and is available to order in bookshops and online (ISBN-13: 9783695186464). A public reading will take place on June 10 from 5.40 p.m. in the foyer of the US-C building at the University of Siegen. Authors will present their texts there, accompanied by improvised piano music.
