A reading with Nora Eckert – Friday, October 23, 6:30 pm

In her new book, Nora Eckert traces how the efforts of individual activists grew into a collective trans* movement — from early networks and self-help groups to political self-representation and the nationwide counseling structures that exist today. The book is both a history of activism and of emancipation, set against the backdrop of postwar German society, and reveals how closely the struggles for gender self-determination, depathologization, and cultural authority over trans* identity were intertwined.

Nora Eckert was born in 1954 and lives and works as a writer in Berlin. She writes for queer.de, among other outlets, and has been active as a trans* activist for decades. From 2022 to 2025, she served on the board of the Bundesverband Trans* e. V., and continues to represent the organization at TransInterQueer. Her most recent books are “Außerhalb oder innerhalb der Binarität? Sind wir unsere Genitalien?” (2023) and “Wie alle, nur anders. Ein transsexuelles Leben in Berlin” (2021).