Lesung im Dialog mit Verena Keßler und Michèle Yves Pauty

In the organizer's words:

November 27, 2025 / 7 p.m. / City Library

Book City Leipzig 2025

Reading in dialog with Verena Keßler and Michèle Yves Pauty

Moderation: Carmen Laux

More than almost any other city, Leipzig is a place for books, publishing, reading and discussion, where the free word has an impact - and where literary writing can be learned. Last July, the German Literature Institute Leipzig (DLL) celebrated its 25th anniversary - this evening, two of its graduates will be presenting their new books:

Verena Keßler, born in Hamburg in 1988, is one of many authors who have stayed in Leipzig after completing their writing studies. In her third novel "Gym" (Hanser Berlin), she tells the story of a young woman who, during a job interview at the gym, pretends to have just given birth in order to justify her unfit body - and becomes hopelessly entangled in this lie. A book about optimization mania and body control.

The debut novel "Family Body" by Michèle Yves Pauty, published by Haymon Verlag, is also about the relationship to one's own body, but also that of one's mother, grandmother and sisters. Pauty tells the story of three generations, three women's lives and the sometimes fatal connections between gender, origin, class, education - and health. Pauty, born in 1982, lives in Vienna and Leipzig.

Free admission

Event organized by Literaturhaus Leipzig e.V. in cooperation with the Leipzig Municipal Libraries as part of the theme year 2025 "More than a story. Book City Leipzig", sponsored by the City of Leipzig, Department of Culture