In the winter semester 2025/26, the Institute of German and Comparative Literature and the Centre for Contemporary German Literature at Paderborn University invite all interested parties to a series of literary readings and discussions. Over the past decades, the event format has already brought more than 250 renowned contemporary authors to Paderborn. The readings take place every Monday at 4.15 pm in lecture hall G at the university. Admission is free. The events are organised and moderated by Prof. Dr. Norbert Otto Eke and Prof. Dr. Stefan Elit. Further information and an overview of all dates can be found on the reading series website.
20 October: Ralf Rothmann reads from "Museum of Loneliness"
To kick things off on 20 October, Ralf Rothmann will be reading from his new collection of stories "Museum der Einsamkeit". Born in Schleswig in 1953, the freelance writer spent his childhood in the Ruhr region, attended a primary school and worked in various professions before deciding to pursue a life as an author. His first volumes of poetry, "Messers Schneide" and "Kratzer und andere Gedichte", were published in 1986 and 1987. These were followed by many other prose and poetry publications such as "Der Windfisch" (1988), "Stier" (1991), "Flieh, mein Freund!" (1998), "Gebet in Ruinen" (2000), "Milch und Kohle" (2000) and "Ein Winter unter Hirschen. Erz?hlungen" (2001), "Hitze" (2003), "Junges Licht" (2004), "Rehe am Meer. Erz?hlungen" (2006), "Feuer brennt nicht" (2009), "Shakespeares Hühner. Erz?hlungen" (2012), "Sterne tief unten" (2013), "Im Frühling sterben" (2015), "Der Gott jenes Sommers" (2018), "Hotel der Schlaflosen" (2020), "Die Nacht unterm Schnee" (2022) and "Museum der Einsamkeit" (2025). Rothmann also penned the texts for the play "Berlin Blues" (1997) and the audio books "Im Frühling sterben" (2016), "Der Gott jenes Sommers" (2018) and "Die Nacht unterm Schnee" (2022). His awards include the Hermann Lenz Prize 2001, the Evangelical Book Prize 2003, the Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize 2004, the Heinrich B?ll Prize 2005, the Max Frisch Prize 2006, the Literature Prize of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation 2008, the Friedrich H?lderlin Prize 2013, the Art and Culture Prize of the German Catholics 2014, the Kleist Prize 2017 and the Thomas Mann Prize 2023.
27 October: Franziska Gerstenberg presents her novel "Although everything is over"
On 27 October, Franziska Gerstenberg will present her new novel "Obwohl alles vorbei ist". Gerstenberg was born in Dresden in 1979 and lives as a freelance writer, editor and lecturer for creative writing in Leipzig. She studied prose, poetry and drama at the German Literature Institute there from 1998 to 2002. Following a number of early awards and publications, her first novel "Wie viele V?gel" (How Many Birds) was published in 2004. This was honoured with the Lessing Prize of the Free State of Saxony. Her other publications include "Glückskekse" (2006), "Solche Geschenke" (2007), an audio version of "Solche Geschenke" (2007), "Spiel mit ihr" (2012), "Musik" (2012), "So lange her, schon gar mehr nicht wahr" (2016) and "Obwohl alles vorbei ist" (2023). Gerstenberg wrote her most recently published novel with the help of a residency scholarship from the Italian Villa Massimo, among others. For her publications, she also received a residency scholarship at the Literary Colloquium Berlin in 2004, a one-year residency scholarship at the Villa Concordia in Bamberg in 2005/06, the Hermann Hesse Prize in 2007, a scholarship from the Heinrich Heine House of the City of Lüneburg in 2007 and other scholarships abroad in the USA, Switzerland and Hungary.
The next readings will take place on 3, 10, 17 and 24 November and on 1 December.
This text was translated automatically.
