Reading and conversation with Lina Schwenk "Blind Spirits"

In her impressive debut novel "Blinde Geister" (Blind Ghosts), Lina Schwenk tells the story of Olivia, who grows up in 1950s Germany – in a time of external peace but internal unrest. The fears and traumas of her parents, shaped by war and decades of silence, dictate family life down to the smallest gestures: the father who constantly checks the supplies; the teacher who sends children through self-built trenches; the cellar that becomes a refuge. It is only as an adult that Olivia realizes how much the unresolved worries of the past continue to affect her – and how difficult it is to protect her own family while also breaking free from their blind spots. With a keen sense and great narrative calm, Schwenk reveals the deeply rooted fears of a generation and spans the arc from the post-war period to the present. "Blinde Geister," awarded among others with the GWK Promotion Prize and the Audience Award of the Harbour Front Literature Festival, is considered one of the remarkable debuts in contemporary German literature. The reading invites you to experience Schwenk's sensitive and multifaceted storytelling firsthand.