Her thoughts actually revolved around Paris, stoking the fire of her imagination. Paris, the dream of a city that kept her going. Yet she decided on the incomplete city of Berlin, a city of change and aspiration: A mirror of her own development and symbolic for arrival in a new world. Romanian author Carmen-Francesca Banciu has lived in Berlin since 1991 and has since become a part of the city herself. In her autobiographical reports and literary miniatures, she immerses herself in the life of the metropolis, visits enchanting localities from world history, and tells of her encounters with interesting and unique people. She whisks readers away to her favorite cafes, goes on journeys of discovery through dreamy courtyards, and shows how Paris can be forgotten in this New Berlin. Melancholic, jovial, and idiosyncratic stories of life between two cultures and of a city that is once again starting to exude cosmopolitan air.

Carmen-Francesca Banciu was born in Romanian Lipova and studied religious painting and foreign trade in Bucharest. As a result of being awarded the International Short Story Award of the City of Arnsberg for the story "Das strahlende Ghetto" (1985), she was banned from publishing her work in Romania. In 1991 she accepted an invitation extended by the artist program of the DAAD and came to Germany. She has been living in Berlin since 1992, employed as a freelance author writing novels, poetry, and articles for the radio and newspapers as well as leading seminars for creativity and creative writing. Since 2013 she has acted as the co-editor and deputy director of the transnational, interdisciplinary, and multilingual e-magazine Levure Littéraire. Banciu has received numerous literature prizes and scholarships; her work has been translated into many languages.