Wörterleuchten Buchgeplauder mit Kaleb Erdmann

In the organizer's words:

Author Kaleb Erdmann meets around 20 readers for a book chat and talks to them about his novel "Die Ausweichschule" (shortlisted for the German Book Prize) in a moderated discussion.

The book chat is not a traditional reading, but an exchange of ideas with the audience, a conversation at eye level. Questions can be asked, answers discussed and suggestions made in a relaxed atmosphere. Listening is of course also encouraged.

"Die Ausweichschule" is a survey of the unspeakable: On the last day of the Abitur exams in 2002, shots are fired at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt. Our narrator experiences this day as an eleven-year-old, is evacuated with his classmates and, in the weeks that follow, registers the helplessness of 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 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.

For the book chat, all participants should have read the novel, otherwise no conversation can take place. Visitors are responsible for buying and reading the book themselves, everything else is taken care of. A moderator will lead through the evening.