About me …

My name is Petra Schirmer. I am a novellist, screenwriter and lector.

As it happens to many other artists, my career path was not straightforward, but rather took a number of detours. At the beginning, there is usually a beautiful young fairy called „Idea“ and she is followed by the ugly old witch „Doubt“. In many cases, the witch catches up with the young fairy, kills her and that’s it.

My „idea“ was probably already standing at my cradle, in Braunschweig (Germany) in the year of our Lord 1960. Unfortunately, I cannot say that with certainty, because at the time I was busy with the essential things in life. Later, however, I noticed that she was constantly hanging around my childhood bedroom, whispering stories to me that I was supposed to write down. She followed me everywhere, through my school years, during my training as an industrial clerk and throughout my entire professional life. She simply could not be shaken off, no matter how hard „Doubt“ tried to drive her away.

At some point my „Idea“ must have learned karate and kung fu. I don’t know where or from whom. In any case, she successfully defended herself against „Doubt“ and so I decided to give up my daily bread and butter – accounting – and turn my passion for storytelling into a career. In 2017 – at the ripe old age of 57 – I began studying screenwriting and graduated two years later with top marks. Since then I have not regretted either decision for a second.

… and my chief editor

My dear friend Karan Merivinder Lalwani has been working for many years as a journalist for Global Camel News (GCN), a gossip magazine widely read in his circles. Evil people like to shorten his name to KaMeL, but his friends may call him Kalle. In November 2014, he accompanied me on my second trip to Mumbai because his memory is better than mine and he is better at using the dictaphone. In the end, he preferred to laze around by the pool and empty the minibar.

The bow tie is his personal trademark. He wore it long before another Mr. L., namely the current German Minister of Health, appeared in public wearing this item of clothing. Between you and me: Kalle looks ten times better in it and he has nicer teeth too, right? If you want to compare, search for pictures of the minister on the Internet.