Helene Hegemann »Striker«

In the organizer's words:

Helene Hegemann, who became famous in her mid-twenties with her debut "Axolotl Roadkill", has a keen eye for social realities, she tells of wealth and repression, of martial arts and homelessness. Of the moment when fear of oppression leads to violence, and of the weakness that must be allowed in order to prevent this violence. "Striker" is an electrifying novel about a present in which the boundaries between conspiracy myths, class struggle and raw violence are becoming increasingly blurred.

Its protagonist N lives on a railroad line that connects a problem district with the residential area at the other end of the city. Two worlds. N knows both. And a third in the middle: the martial arts school where she teaches, prepares for competitions and begins an affair with a politician from the defense committee. Contrasts characterize her existence: rich and poor, hardness and tenderness, powerlessness and muscle building, utmost discipline and excessive aggression against herself (Kiepenheuer & Witsch 2025).

"A book incredibly rich in very clever and also harsh observations of Berlin and its inhabitants ... From poverty hell to wealth neglect hell and back." (Eva Menasse in the Literary Quartet)

Admission: 10,- / 7,- EUR. Advance ticket sales from 26.8. at the Box Office in the Haus des Buches (further dates: 27.8., 28.8., 2.9., 3.9., 4.9., 10.9., 16.9., 22.9., 25.9., each 6-7.30 p.m. and 9.9. 5-6 p.m.)

Event of the Literaturhaus Leipzig e.V.