Irmgard Keun, a writer from Cologne, left her Germany in 1936, disgusted by the sight of German fascism. In 1940, still hunted by the Nazis, she returned illegally. After the war it became rather quiet about the author, who Tucholsky said about that she had the humour of a fat man combined with the grace of a woman. She has emerged from oblivion with the new editions of her novels - the most famous of which, AFTER MIDNIGHT was filmed in 1981, directed by Wolf Gremm. In conversation with journalist Christa Merker and her editor Klaus Antes she talks about her escapes and journeys, her passion for writing and for life itself, her books, and the writers she shared her years in exile with: Joseph Roth (for some years her companion), Kisch, Eisler, Zweig, Toller, Heinrich Mann, Kesten, Tucholsky, Fallada, Ringelnatz, Döblin...