Claudia Schumacher: Liebe ist gewaltig

In the organizer's words:

A book for the city of Cologne 2025 - A conversation with the author and Gisa Funck

Claudia Schumacher's novel "Liebe ist gewaltig" is this year's book for the city of Cologne. The novel takes an unsparing look behind the façade of a middle-class, seemingly perfect picture-book family. But abysses open up in the small-town villa: The father is a brutal tyrant who regularly abuses his wife and four children. It is impossible to predict when he will strike - his blind rage often comes out of nowhere. And so everyone lives in constant fear. But how can you free yourself if you don't trust your parents or your own memories? Liberation turns into a campaign - against your parents and your own self.

We follow the protagonist Juli for three decades as she tries with all her might to gain control over her life. A haunting novel about injuries and possible healing, full of originality and warmth.

Claudia Schumacher was born in Tübingen in 1986. She has worked as a journalist for "NZZ am Sonntag" and "DIE ZEIT", among others. She now lives as a writer in Hamburg. Her debut novel "Liebe ist gewaltig", which was nominated for the aspekte Literature Prize and the Newcomer Prize at the Harbour Front Literature Festival, was named "Book of the Year" 2022 at the Hamburg Literature Awards and awarded the 2023 Literature Scholarship of the State of Baden-Württemberg.

Gisa Funck works as a literary critic and author for Deutschlandfunk and WDR. Before that, she worked for a long time as a feature writer for various newspapers. Her book "Echt fertig" was published in 2016. Together with Gregor Schwering, she published the book about the Cologne subculture "Wir waren hochgemute Nichtskönner". Gisa Funck lives in Cologne.

The "Book for the City" is a literary campaign organized by the Literaturhaus Köln and the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. The jury was made up of Bettina Fischer (Literaturhaus Köln), Hildegund Laaff (Lengfeld'sche Buchhandlung), Martin Oehlen (literary blog "Bücher-Atlas") and Anne Burgmer (Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger).

An event organized by the Literatur-in-Köln-Archiv (LiK) in cooperation with the Klaus Bittner bookshop

Price information:

Admission costs 8 euros, concessions 6 euros, 4 euros with a disabled pass. Tickets are available in advance from kölnticket. Remaining tickets may be available at the Box Office.