Ulrike Draesner & Rebecca Braun: Channel Swimmer

Ulrike Draesner is one Germany’s most acclaimed poets and novelists. Her novel Kanalschwimmer was published in 2019 by Penguin Verlag and then translated into English by Irish-based translator Rebecca Braun and published as Channel Swimmer in August 2025. 

Charles, an Oxford scientist on the eve of retirement, decides to counter his wife’s mid-life dream of an expanded marriage with his own: swimming the English Channel – at least once in his life. His Channel crossing turns into an ordeal, a rite of passage, and, ultimately, a tribute to the vagaries of love. At the end of his quest, Charles realizes that he cannot jump over his own shadow. He can only swim across and through it. 

Translator Rebecca Braun will join us in person for this event and author Ulrike Draesner will join us remotely from Germany via a live video link-up. 

This event supported by the Goethe-Institut Irland. It is also part of Cork County Council’s European Culture programme for Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026.