Bio Monica Cantieni
The author Monica Cantieni (*1965) lives in Wettingen, Switzerland. She publishes novels and short stories.
Her novel «Grünschnabel», published by Schöffling & Co, Frankfurt a. Main, was nominated for the Swiss Book Prize in 2011 and - in its English translation «The Encyclopedia of good Reasons» by Seagull Books, Kolkata-London-Chicago - for the First Book Award at the Edinburgh International Book Festival (UK, 2015). The novel has been translated into six languages.
Her first book for young adults, "Zwischen Leben", was published by da bux in 2023. It has been translated into Bangla and Marathi.
Further more Monica Cantieni built up the online platform of the culture department for SRF Swiss Radio and Television and managed it until 2017. She won the German Grimme Online Award for the film platform "frischfilm" developed for SRF.
She completed her Master of Arts in Digital Management in London in 2020 and founded ALPHABET LAB in 2021, a service that helps cultural institutions digitize and sharpen their offerings and develops and implements innovative storytelling and learning formats for schools. Locally, throughout Switzerland and internationally, for example for the Goethe-Institut South Asia, for which she regularly works as a storytelling expert. Diversity and a sense of community in (internationally) mixed contexts is her daily bread.
Together with Bettina Spoerri, she is the founder of the national project «MENSCH SEIN | BEING HUMAN, writers against hate» and is part of Creative Climate Leadership, a network of over 200 members worldwide, initiated by Julie's Bicycle, in Switzerland supported by vert le future, PRO HELVETIA and Mercator Stiftung Schweiz.
She is currently working on her new novel.
© Ayse Yavas 2024
Biography
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© Monica Cantieni 2021
Latest Projects
«BIRKENHELLGRÜN» | Classroom novel
In March 2020, when the Corona pandemic brought public life to a standstill and toilet paper became the seemingly most essential commodity of all, the Aargauer Literaturhaus initiated various online projects.
The results are literary testimonies of an extraordinary time.
With contributions by:
Peter Stamm, T.C. Boyle, A.L. Kennedy, Judith Schalansky, Jan Konnefke, Katja Petrowskaja, Kendel Hippolyte, Monica Cantieni, Robert Cohen, Ruth Schweikert and many others (Text: Midas Verlag)
Bettina Spoerri, Anne Wieser eds. Schwellenzeit - 44 Autoren schreiben zur Corona-Zeit, Midas Verlag, 2020
THE CHOCOLATE HEIST THAT WENT DOWN IN HISTORY
What happens when chocolate suddenly becomes scarce worldwide?
It has been stolen and can no longer be found. Not a crumb. The case is complex. Especially at Lützelflühs in Bern Bümpliz, it is a drama. The robbery will go down in history. However, the police are on the gang's trail. The wild chase leads through Switzerland, into a nameless jungle and ends in Canada, even though the gang is digitally quite fit.
In this way, literacy, argumentation, media and presentation skills can be taught and practised in a low-threshold way. The project is part of the toolset "ALPHABET LAB" and was designed at the request of the school.
Workshop for schools - Cycle 2,3 to Sek II
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What does an ideal city actually look like? What does it need to work? What is already a reality and what are the wishes of a generation that is still at school but already has ideas that we adults have and should certainly be realising in part now. This, by the way, is what the pupils of the 5th and 6th grade of the Marzili school in Bern would have wished for, and they would have liked to take it into their own hands right away.
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The project is part of the ‘ALPHABET LAB’ toolset from Monica Cantieniand was designed and realised for a website at the request of the school. The entire design was the result of democratic decisions and the use of images from the classes.
The city can be visited here. Click!
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Ich habe eine Frage dazu / möchte den Workshop gleich buchen.
Murder at the «Abe Kebabra»
The senior class of the Lenzburg District School writes a crime novel in half a day, in which the murderer sits in their own ranks. They are all suspected of having committed the murder of the instastar Vlasta. And the murderer strikes again.
This is a low-threshold way of teaching and practising literacy, argumentation, media and presentation skills. The project is part of the toolset "ALPHABET LAB" and was designed at the request of the school.
