Lena Bastin

Lena Bastin

Lena Bastin (born 1997) has been studying journalism at Hochschule Hannover since the 2024 winter semester. After leaving school, she trained as a state-certified beautician and then went back into education to gain her university entrance qualification. In 2020 she became a mother and spent three years looking after her child full-time.

Shaped by her own life experience, she is particularly passionate about writing and about exposing social injustice and inequality.

She is also interested in politics, music and education.

Contact

Email: lena.bastin@stud.hs-hannover.de

Stories by Lena:

Work

Parental leave for fathers: Dad’s got this.

A new study shows that fathers want more flexibility from their employers. Companies that respond will benefit in the long run.

In the evening, a father lies on a sofa with his child. The light from an electronic device falls on their faces as they gaze, absorbed, at the screen.

Recommended by the editors:

Collecting

The world’s largest Playmobil collection: 400,000 figures

It all began in a child’s bedroom – today Oliver Schaffer owns the world’s largest Playmobil collection, with more than 400,000 figures. A visit to his high-bay warehouse.

Masculinity

‘Being gay is not a choice’

Dirk and Thomas came out to their families only recently. Today they live together as a couple. In an interview with our author, they talk about their path to an open life.

Masculinity

‘I was a Hitler caricature from a bad Hollywood film’

He used to march through the streets in a leather coat, carrying the Reich war flag, giving hate speeches and dreaming of the great revolution. Today Axel Reitz works in extremism prevention.

Work

Cannabis as a career: how a dealer became a businessman

He cycled through the suburbs with bags full of weed – and everything went to plan. A former dealer explains why the cannabis trade made more sense to him than any shift job.

Advice

Journalism internships: how to find a placement and write an application that stands out.

How do you find the right internship in journalism, how do you make your application convincing, and what should you bear in mind during the internship? With concrete tips from professors and students.

Five people in the F.A.Z. photo studio stage a creative scene with frying pans. At the centre: Sophie Boyer and Stefan Nieland, both doing journalism internships from the Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography programme in Hannover. The scene shows collaboration and creative practice during an editorial internship.

Award winners

City of steel.

In Zenica, Bosnia, student Lasse Branding documents the impact of the local steel mill on the people of the town.

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