Christian Berkel - „Sputnik“ // Lesung auf dem Harbour Front Literaturfestival

In the organizer's words:

The Harbour Front Literature Festival is delighted to welcome Christian Berkel - one of Germany's best-known actors and celebrated bestselling authors. In his impressive career, he has worked with international directors such as Ingmar Bergman (The Serpent's Egg), Paul Verhoeven (Elle) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds).

With his autobiographical novels, Berkel has embarked on a second, no less impressive career as an author. The Apple Tree and Ada tell of love, loss and the traces of German history in the 20th century - both personal and historical. Sputnik builds on this literary depth and tells the multi-layered story of a man searching for his origins - and himself.

"A dramatic love and family story, excellently told."

- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about "The Apple Tree"

About the book "Sputnik"

About the traces of a life and the question of who we really are.

On October 4, 1957, the first satellites reach Earth orbit. Shortly afterwards, Sputnik sees the light of day in West Berlin. He grows up between the stories of Sala, his beloved mother, who opposes reality with her own images, and his father Otto's books. From an early age, the world becomes a stage for him, everyone seems to play a role, and how else could one understand life?

As a teenager, he escaped to Paris: to the world of literature and to Annie, who taught him about desire, love and jealousy. And his return to Germany: right into the heart of the up-and-coming theater world of the 1970s. A wild period of experimentation begins, until Sputnik begins to suspect who he is - or at least who he could be.

In his third novel, Christian Berkel retraces his life, but even more than a look back, this story is a journey out of it into a frighteningly changed present, in which we will never understand who we are without the past.

Publication date: May 30, 2025

About the author:

Christian Berkel is one of the most renowned German actors. He has been involved in numerous European productions and Hollywood films - including Downfall, Operation Valkyrie and Inglourious Basterds. He has been awarded the Bambi, the Golden Camera and the German Television Award for his artistic work. His novels The Apple Tree and Ada have been acclaimed by readers and critics alike.