English Biography: Who is Alice Schwarzer?

Alice Schwarzer has been the embodiment of committed and combative feminism in the German-speaking countires since 1975. Everyone in Germany knows hername: she ist the symbol of women's liberation. The journalist, essayist and activist has written fifteen books since 1971. Her first bestseller, "Der kleine Unterschied und seine grossen Folgen" (The 'Petite Différence' and its Big Consequences), was published in 1975 and translated into thirteen languages. Since then her popularity has consistently grown. All three of her works published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch since 1994 were on the bestseller lists for months. The initial print runs for "Der große Unterschied" (The Big Difference) was 100,000 copies.

Alice Schwarzers most recent books have all been cast studies and biographies. With her latest work "Der grosse Unterschied Gegen die Spaltung von Männern und Frauen" (The Big Difference Against dividing human beings into men and women) the popular theorist has presented her first political review for 25 years in a book written for both women and men, for sixteen- and sixty-year-olds. In it she celebrates victories and advances, but also warns of illusions and setbacks. We must dare to look into the darkest depths of womanhood and simultaneously reach for the stars. Schwarzer, who lived in Paris for many years, cites examples and statistics that are not confined to a European setting. She argues from an international perspective.

Alice Schwarzer not only made her name as an author and activist, but as a publisher as well. In 1977 she launched the monthly magazine EMMA, Europes only independant feminist magazine. Still published today, it regularly sparks heated debates and high-interest campaigns. Although Alice Schwarzer (now aged 57) hails from the pioneer generation of the 1970s, she enjoys an even more prominent position in the public dabate today at the start of the twenty-first century. Her latest book is one of this autumns most eagerly anticipated arrivals.

Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2000