author
Emmy Ball-Hennings
1885–1948
A poet, novelist, cabaret performer, and pioneering Dada artist, Emmy Ball-Hennings helped shape the radical cultural scene that emerged in Zurich during World War I. Her work combines theatrical energy, spiritual searching, and a strikingly modern voice.
1 Audiobook
Die letzte Freude
by Emmy Ball-Hennings
About the author
Emmy Ball-Hennings (1885–1948) was a German writer and performer best known as a central figure in the early Dada movement. Born in Flensburg, she worked in avant-garde theater and cabaret before moving to Zurich during World War I.
Together with her husband, Hugo Ball, she co-founded the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916, the experimental venue widely regarded as the birthplace of Dada. She performed poetry, songs, and avant-garde works there, helping define the movement’s playful and confrontational style. She also wrote novels, poems, and memoir-like prose, including Prison (Das Gefängnis). She spent her later years in Switzerland and died in Sorengo in 1948.