Literature Day - Against the Current

January 27, 2024, 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Upper foyer, Waltherhaus Bolzano

Reading and discussion:

Elena Messner, Margit Mössmer, Joana Osman, Romina Pleschko, Caroline Wahl, Artur Weigandt

Moderator: Jutta Wieser

Free admission

Registration requested at info@kulturinstitut.org, tel. 0471 313 800

It would be so easy to go with the flow. But the current of life keeps us from doing so: some still carry the keys to houses they will never return to in their pockets, like the displaced people in Joana Osman's novel “Where the Ghosts Dance.” Some pull the emergency brake when their own working environment runs aground, like the doctor Judit in Elena Messner's novel “Schmerzambulanz” (Pain Clinic). And some swim differently from birth, like little Alex in Margit Mössmer's novel “Das Geheimnis meines Erfolgs” (The Secret of My Success).

In some places, simply thinking against the grain is life-threatening, as Artur Weigandt describes in his debut novel “Die Verräter” (The Traitors). Life in small-town Austria seems more harmless, but even a place like Liebstatt am See, as invented by Romina Pleschko for her novel “Offene Gewässer” (Open Waters), can only be overcome with a heroine full of anger, wit, and plenty of swimming experience.

Swimming is also the salvation in Caroline Wahl's debut novel, specifically “22 Bahnen” (22 Laps).

Program:

2:00–3:30 p.m.: Readings and discussions

Joana Osman. Where the Ghosts Dance (C. Bertelsmann, 2023)

Elena Messner. Pain Clinic (Edition Atelier, 2023)

Margit Mössmer. The Secret of My Success (Leykam, 2023)

4:00–5:30 p.m.: Readings and discussions

Artur Weigandt. Die Verräter (Hanser Berlin, 2023)

Romina Pleschko. Offene Gewässer (Kremayr & Scheriau, 2023)

Caroline Wahl. 22 Bahnen (Dumont, 2023)

A joint event organized by: South Tyrolean Artists' Association, South Tyrolean Cultural Institute/Language Center, Dr. Friedrich Teßmann Provincial Library, Bolzano