Familienstraße: Novel Reading & Conversation with Jenny Erpenbeck and John Erpenbeck (LitFest 2024)

Jenny Erpenbeck, renowned German novelist, playwright, and International Booker Prize (2024) winner for her novel Kairos, with her father, acclaimed scientist, novelist and longtime resident of Pankow-Niederschönhausen John Erpenbeck will talk about their respective careers in the GDR and in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, about the history of their family, and about how their writing captures recent social changes and universal human issues through storytelling.

Language: German

This talk requires registration. Please register online here.

Part of LitFest 2024 at Bard College Berlin: Polyphony of a Metropolis

Jenny Erpenbeck was born in East Berlin. She is a novelist, playwright, theatre director, and essayist. Her works include the collections of short stories The Old Child & Other Stories, The End of Days, The Book of Words, the novel Visitation and the plays Katzen haben sieben Leben (Cats Have Seven Lives, 2000) and Leibesübungen für eine Sünderin (Physical Exercises for a Sinner, 2003). She contributed to a biweekly column to the FAZ. She received a host of prestigious literary awards in Germany and abroad. The End of Days won the Hans Fallada Prize and the International Foreign Fiction Prize, representing Erpenbeck for the 2024 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Her acclaimed novel Go, Went, Gone was longlisted for the 2018 International Man Booker Prize, and her latest, Kairos, won the 2024 International Booker Prize. Her works have been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in Berlin.

John Erpenbeck is a prominent German physicist, scholar, and novelist. As a scientist, he is known for his work in the fields of learning theory and knowledge management. As an academic and researcher, he has made significant contributions to the study of competence development, exploring how individuals acquire and apply knowledge. His interdisciplinary approach combines elements of psychology, education, and economics. Erpenbeck has authored numerous publications on these subjects, establishing himself as a leading thinker in the German academic community. He taught at the Center for Philosophy of Science in Pittsburgh, and was Professor at Potsdam University. Among his literary works are the novels Der blaue Turm (The Blue Tower, 1980), Gruppentherapie (Group Therapy, 1989), and Aufschwung (Upswing, 1996). He lives in Berlin-Niederschönhausen. 

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For more information, e-mail [email protected].

Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm CET/GMT+1

Location: W15 Cafe at Bard College Berlin (Waldstraße 15, 13156 Berlin, Germany)

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