KALEB ERDMANN »DIE AUSWEICHSCHULE« - KLASSEBUCH

In the organizer's words:

On the last day of the Abitur exams in 2002, shots are fired at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt. Our narrator experienced this day as an eleven-year-old, was evacuated with his classmates and, in the weeks that followed, registered the helplessness of the adults in the face of this act. More than twenty years later, the event unexpectedly bursts into his life again and triggers an obsessive preoccupation with the subject, which is to result in a novel project. But why reopen old wounds after so many years? Does he have the right to do so? What about his memories, which stories did he tell so often that they became true?

Kaleb Erdmann's novel "Die Ausweichschule" is a skillful play with perspectives, a piece of autofiction that is as critical of the public (how voyeuristic is our interest in coming to terms with acts of violence?) as it is autocritical (what gives me the right to write about this day?). A trenchant, personal, harrowing text about a phenomenon that concerns us worldwide.

Kaleb Erdmann, born in 1991, studied literary writing at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig, as well as sociology and political theory in Munich and Frankfurt am Main. He was a finalist in the open mike, was nominated for the Retzhofer Dramapreis for his play "Unten" and was part of various television and entertainment formats as an author and editor. His first novel "wir sind pioniere" was awarded the LitCologne Debut Prize. "Die Ausweichschule" was shortlisted for the German Book Prize 2025. Kaleb Erdmann lives and works in Düsseldorf.

The KlasseBuch series is a cooperation with Bonn schools that is expressly open to non-school audiences and all interested parties. Building on project work and reading in class, the event becomes a live literary experience for pupils in which they are actively involved.

Supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science NRW

Price information:

Tickets in advance via Bonnticket 16€ / 8€ / 2,50€, Box Office 18€ / 10€ / 3€, Free admission for all students