Jenny Erpenbeck’s childhood, she has commented, “belongs in a museum.” Born in the now- defunct GDR; she was twenty-two and in university when the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989. In her most recent novel, Kairos, Erpenbeck narrates two breakups: one romantic, one political. An intense and formative relationship collapses, like the GDR, leaving behind a narrative ruin. In Go, Went, Gone (2015), she centers her novel on the moral question of asylum, through an encounter between a privileged German citizen and a small group of displaced African refugees. Erpenbeck, an epic storyteller and one of the most celebrated authors in Germany, discusses her work with writer, artist, and literary curator Louise Steinman. 

This program is presented in partnership with Villa Aurora. Free, RSVP.