On Saturday, 31 January at 4.30 pm, the city library invites interested parties to a reading with Robin Bergauf at the Stefan Heym Forum in the TIETZ, Moritzstraße 20. Admission is free.
Registration under the event booking link.
The author will read from her novel about the issues of our time: the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, "East" and "West" and about Sofiia, her cat Comrade, Alex, Liz, two gay Putinists and the guy with the rubbish.
"Alex is writing a hopeless dissertation and doesn't eat meat" - that seems to summarise Alex's character. However, things look very different in Alex's head, where questions pile up on top of questions: What are 'East' and 'West'? Do they even exist? Why is this guy carrying rubbish around with him? Is the doctoral thesis doomed to fail? And who is actually consoling whom here?
There is no end to the confusion of everyday and extraordinary life: Sofiia, who had to flee Ukraine, cooks pierogi with Putinists. Liz wants Alex to finally stand up for himself and the most curious thing - the tomcat Comrade doesn't need a litter tray.
The novel takes on the heavy subject of the war in Ukraine with surprising lightness and tells of Alex's attempt to understand the conflict between East and West, or at least to find it less confusing.
Robin Bergauf grew up in the GDR: in East Germany, which had its antennae pointed towards the West. She tried to deal with the resulting questions by studying the main languages of the two hostile blocs. After dropping out of university, she fell out of favour and got to know life in various jobs until she was allowed to become a teacher after the GDR arrived in the West after 1989.
Her enthusiasm for attempts at human communication - language and music - is helpful in this and in her writing. She plays music in several formations and writes short prose, poetry and novels. Robin Bergauf has two sons and lives with her partner in Weimar.
An article on the Liesmich publishing house and "Where does the East begin, comrade?" was published by MDR Kultur. "The novel deals with the serious questions of our time in a clever and surprisingly entertaining way," writes Tino Dallmann (MDR Kultur).
(see www.mdr.de/nachrichte n/sachsen/leipzig/leipzig-leipzig-land/liesmich-verlag-comeback-osten-kultur-news-100.html)
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