Fikri Anil Altintas - Reading and Conversation

The Plot

An adult son loses his mother. In the weeks leading up to her death, daily life sets the rhythm: cooking, waiting in hospital corridors, hoping, and mourning. Stories sneak into everyday life—those that have always been told and those that shimmer through the background. What does the son, who is at home in Germany, know about his mother’s youth in Turkey? While Anil and his family try to understand the impact of their mother’s impending death on them, Mürüvvet, the woman who was once his mother, searches for ways to live in Aydin, western Turkey, in 1973. Amidst political upheaval, she does everything to prevent her father from taking her to Germany. She fears for her dreams until the thought of Germany becomes inescapable.

This is a novel about a farewell from Turkey and a new beginning in Germany, about the often unbearable distance to those who are geographically closest to us—and about the desperate desire to catch up on love.

The author, Fikri Anıl Altıntaş, born in 1992 in Wetzlar, lives and works in Berlin. In his writings, including for ZEIT, taz, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, ZDF, and Berliner Ensemble, he deals with masculinities, antifeminism, and the (de)construction of non-white, Muslim-coded masculinities in Germany. His debut novel "Im Morgen wächst ein Birnbaum" was published in 2023.

The reading followed by a discussion with the author is a collaborative event organized by the Literature Office in cooperation with the Fredenberg Forum, AWiSTA Fredenberg, and the Citizens' Service for Migrants. The discussion will be moderated by Dincer Dinc.

Advance Ticket Sales

Admission costs 5 euros. Tickets are available at the bookstore in the medical center (Lebenstedt), at the Lesezeichen bookstore (Salzgitter-Bad), at the Fredenberg Forum, Kurt-Schumacher-Ring 4, in Fredenberg.