Thekla Wilkening
AUTHOR

Thekla Wilkening

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Thekla Wilkening is an entrepreneur, author, and FINTA* political spokesperson for the Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. For years, she has been passionately advocating for mindful living, circular economy, and social participation. She first gained recognition as the co-founder of Kleiderei, Germany’s first fashion-sharing start-up, and has since become one of the leading voices for sustainable fashion in the German-speaking world. Wilkening has advised numerous companies and played a key role in bringing sustainability and circular fashion into mainstream conversation. After publishing the nonfiction book "The Organic-Pizza Dilemma" (co-authored with public health scientist Robin Haring), Wilkening is taking a new step: in the summer of 2025, she will release her debut novel "Sway to Stay: Franca and Ed". With this literary work, she translates her social and political engagement into storytelling — empathetic, political, and deeply personal. Through the novel, she seeks to encourage readers to meet themselves and others with greater understanding and to imagine new narratives of community and belonging. Her personal journey is closely intertwined with her advocacy: as the mother of a daughter with Down syndrome, Wilkening speaks publicly about inclusion, visibility, and self-determination — themes that also inform her writing. Her essays and articles have appeared in VOGUE, Welt, and other renowned publications. She also writes weekly on her Substack, "Von Hybris und Weltschmerz". Wilkening’s creative roots trace back to her family history: her grandfather, Albert Wilkening, was a key figure in East Germany’s film industry, serving as Technical Director of DEFA and later as General Director of Studio Babelsberg. Her father, Thomas Wilkening, continued this legacy as a film and television producer. This artistic heritage deeply shapes Thekla Wilkening’s approach to storytelling — marked by a sense of social relevance, humanistic perspective, and moral clarity. With We Stay We: Franca and Ed — the first volume in her literary series “Sway to Stay” — she steps onto the literary stage while remaining entirely true to herself: engaged, courageous, and profoundly human.
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