Nonbinary and Homeless

Ariane and Sam have been trying since childhood to find their place in a harsh, unwelcoming city. Homelessness there has reached a level that affects far more than just the unemployed: even working people depend on the few public sleeping spaces available. Private sleep hotels remain out of reach for most, and owning your own apartment is a privilege reserved for the elite.

When the System Prescribes Only Two Genders

For Ariane and Sam, the hurdles are even higher. Because Sam’s ID card does not identify their gender and the system also recognizes only two genders, almost all doors stay closed to them. So they spend their nights on buses, drifting as they are propelled through the city. By day, Ariane leads a life that outwardly appears orderly: she works in an office, though she hates the job, but at least it provides a minimal measure of stability for both of them.
When Sam one day lands with people who manage to resist the system’s reach, Ariane is left on her own. She begins to spend her meager savings on temporary rooms, living beyond her means and clinging to one transitional solution after another. Eventually she quits her office job, works as a nanny for a wealthy family, follows others into their houses and their beds, and continues to search for a place where she can stay—and where she wants to stay. Driven by a hunger for life that carries both hope and fear within it.
“Gescheiterte Sterne” is published as a hardcover for 22 euros and as an e-book for 16.99 euros by the Berlin-based Korbinian Verlag. A reading sample is available on amazon.de (Amazon Affiliate Link).
Thea Mantwill, born in 1990 in Gräfelfing, studied at the Karlsruhe and Düsseldorf Art Academies with Keren Cytter, Franka Hörnschemeyer and as a master’s student with John Morgan. She works across media—installations, images, words and music—melding literature with visual art. In 2025 her debut novel “Glow Paint” was released by März Verlag, and it had already been recognized with the Rolf-Dieter-Brinkmann Scholarship in advance. Mantwill lives and works in Düsseldorf. (dd/pm)