She is known as a literary critic for Deutschlandradio Kultur, and as an essayist and columnist for newspapers such as Die Welt and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

She teaches philosophy and Chinese thinking at the Berlin University of the Arts, the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg and the Donau-Universität Krems since 2012.

[1] In 2007 she published the book Der Tanz um die Lust, about the consequences of an increasingly sexualized society, which became a bestseller.

Kleine Charakterkunde für alle, die sich selbst und andere besser verstehen wollen.

She is a cousin of the lawyer and bestselling crime writer Ferdinand von Schirach and the sister of the novelist Benedict Wells.