Dana von Suffrin

Relationship status: complicated. In her acclaimed novel »Toxibaby«, Dana von Suffrin captures the spirit of the millennial generation, often dubbed the »generation incapable of relationships«. Herzchen loves Toxi and Toxi loves Herzchen; the two move in together straight away, adopt a dog – and yet nothing works at all. The couple are in an exhausting on-off relationship and, over the course of the novel, break up 13 times in three years. What begins as intoxicating love turns into a struggle for closeness and self-assertion, a tug-of-war between devotion and dependence. The author weaves a love story that is as clever as it is mercilessly funny exploring the big question of why we keep falling for the wrong people.

Dana von Suffrin (b. 1985) studied in Munich, Naples and Jerusalem and completed her PhD with a thesis on the role of science and ideology in early Zionism. In her works, she often explores intergenerational trauma, daily life in affluence and Jewish identity in contemporary Germany. She has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Friedrich Hölderlin Prize’s Young Writers’ Award (2020), the Tukan Prize (2024) and the Chamisso Prize (2025).

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What the press says:

»Brilliantly funny (…) Suffrin manages, in a unique way, to treat the serious with both gravity and lightness. And above all, to turn it into great literature in this novel too.«
DIE ZEIT

»›Toxibaby‹ makes you laugh out loud, nod in agreement, and sometimes you get a lump in your throat because it hurts so much.«
Süddeutsche Zeitung

»Anyone who likes Dana von Suffrin’s political humour will celebrate ›Toxibaby‹ as a wildly funny piece of literature.«
taz

»A bitterly wicked and clever book«
SWR Kultur

»You simply can’t help but be drawn into the story because you succumb to Dana von Suffrin’s black humour.«
rbb radiodrei

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