Island adventures on Hiddensee at the end of the GDR
Lutz Seiler reads from his award-winning novel "Kruso" on 5 December, 7 pm at TIETZ
Gera-born writer Lutz Seiler is one of the great voices of contemporary German literature. In addition to the Bachmann Prize (2007), he was honoured with the Uwe Johnson Prize and the German Book Prize for his debut novel "Kruso" (2014). The novel tells the story of a friendship against the backdrop of the collapse of the GDR. At the event on 5 December at 7 pm at the TIETZ, Lutz Seiler will read from the book and will also be available to answer questions from the audience in a discussion.
Organiser: TU Chemnitz, Chair of Modern German and Comparative Literature in cooperation with Chemnitz City Library
Venue: Central Library in the TIETZ, event hall
Admission 5 / reduced 3 Euro, ticket reservations under Tel.: 0371 488 4366
The book:
When disaster strikes, Edgar Bendler flees his life. He becomes a dishwasher on Hiddensee, an island shrouded in legend which, as the story goes, is already out of time and "beyond the news". Ed meets Alexander Krusowitsch Kruso in the Klausner's washing-up room, a pub high above the sea. A difficult, tender friendship begins. Kruso, the master and godfather of the island, initiates Ed into the rituals of the seasonal workers and the laws of their nights, during which Ed experiences his sexual initiation. The secret driving force behind this community is Kruso's utopia, which promises to lead every castaway of the land (and of life) to the "roots of freedom" in three nights. But the autumn of '89 shakes the island. In the end, there is a fight to the death and a promise.
The author:
Lutz Seiler was born in Gera/Thuringia in 1963 and now lives in Wilhelmshorst near Berlin and in Stockholm. After an apprenticeship as a building labourer, he worked as a carpenter and bricklayer. He completed a degree in German Studies in 1990 and has been head of the literature programme at the Peter Huchel House since 1997. He has travelled to Central Asia and Eastern Europe and was writer in residence at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles as well as a fellow at the Villa Massimo in Rome. He has received several prizes for his work, including the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, the Bremen Literature Prize, the Uwe Johnson Prize and the German Book Prize in 2014.
City of Chemnitz, Cultural Services, City Library
Uwe Hastreiter, Public Relations
Tel: 0371-4884202
E-mail: hastreiter(at)stadtbibliothek-chemnitz.de