Ole Lucoje – Pacifist with Violent Fantasies
- Written by Portal Editor
Ole Lucoje – Even several days at the Leipzig Book Fair are not enough to keep up with all the interesting book presentations and author readings on offer; thus, it was merely a few snatched fragments of conversation that first led us to Ole Lucoje.
An audience listening in rapt attention along with those very first fragments from his book, “Pazifist mit Gewaltfantasien” prompted us, too, to follow his reading with heightened interest. We quickly found ourselves immersed in his self-deprecating anecdotes about life in shared apartments and as a university student story that resonated deeply with us due to the many parallels with our own experiences and so we listened to his reading with close attention and eager anticipation. A new name in the poetry slam scene one to watch out for.
His first collection of texts, “Pazifist mit Gewaltfantasien”, reveals a young artist who, as a storyteller, has far more to offer than his previous stage performances might suggest. "Alongside his popular, humorously chaotic tales of everyday life, the film studies student writes short stories characterized by vivid imagery tales that frequently veer into the grotesque and reveal a keen sense of the tragic as well as satirical, essayistic explorations of the overwhelming pressures faced by a young man with obsessive-compulsive tendencies navigating the daily grind of big-city and student life," states the accompanying press release.
About the Author: Ole Lucoje (born 2000) hails from a backwater village in Brandenburg; after graduating from high school, he at least managed to make it as far as Potsdam. There, he studied European Media Studies a field better known by the question: "So, ... what exactly do you do with that?" The answer: Never stop studying or become a cabaret/performance artist, which, at least financially speaking, amounts to the exact same thing as never having stopped studying.
Since then, Ole Lucoje has been performing as a poetry slammer across Germany; in 2024, he had the good fortune to be crowned the regional champion of Berlin and Brandenburg. Shortly thereafter, however, he realized that you can't actually do anything with that title, either.
Consequently, in 2025, he decided to move to Berlin and pursue a Master’s degree in Film Studies—a path better known as: "You might as well just become a writer."
Subsequently, he co-founded a literary stage in Neukölln named “Billiger als Kino” ("Cheaper than the Cinema") and published his first book: “Pazifist mit Gewaltfantasien” ("Pacifist with Violent Fantasies").
By the time his reading concluded, interest in the book had surged to such an extent that we were eager to purchase it immediately for our own reading pleasure; this drew us to the publisher's booth, where after acquiring the volume, we were also able to have it signed by the author, Ole Lucoje. Naturally, there was also time for a brief chat and a few photos, which proved helpful as a basis for this article.
We can highly recommend the book “Pazifist mit Gewaltfantasien” we enjoyed it immensely!
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