Gregor Sander is Heinrich Heine Visiting Lecturer of the Year 2022

2022-06-15 Lüneburg. Gregor Sander is one of the most important voices in all-German literature. His debut novel "Abwesend" was nominated for the German Book Prize in 2007. In 2012 he received the LiteraTour Nord prize for his short story collection "Winterfisch". From 23 to 25 June, he will come to Leuphana as the 14th Heinrich Heine Guest Lecturer. A seminar led by Jessica Tartas will deal with his work during the current summer semester. Its students will take part in a two-day workshop run by the guest lecturer. Sander will give his public lecture on 23 June at 7 p.m. in the Forum of Leuphana's Central Building, which will include his current work "Lenin auf Schalke". Literary critic Christoph Schröder will moderate the event. Admission is free. The Heinrich Heine Guest Lectureship 2022 is sponsored by the German Literature Fund, the Sparda Bank and the Lüneburg Regional Association.

About the book: In Germany for thirty years the West has been looking at the East, now it is time for Gregor Sander to look from East to West. "Sander you have to go to the West", with these words of his best friend the journey from East Berlin to Gelsenkirchen begins, where Sander tries to find his way between old spoil heaps, brand new Lenin sculptures and a past that lies 1000 metres underground. Witty, cleverly observing and with humorous seriousness, Sander tells of a place that leads in all negative statistics: poorest city in Germany, highest unemployment, lowest per capita income. Sander is amazed to discover a world that was forgotten by the old Federal Republic. But is that why Gelsenkirchen is really the East in the West?

Gregor Sander, born in Schwerin in 1968, lives as a freelance author in Berlin. He has won several awards for his novels and short stories. In 2009 he took part in the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition and received the 3sat Prize. The novel "Was gewesen wäre" was made into a film with a prominent cast; Sander wrote the screenplay for the film. In 2019 the novel "Alles richtig gemacht" was published and in spring 2022 the book "Lenin auf Schalke".

The Heinrich Heine Guest Lectureship is a cooperation project between the Lüneburg Literature Office and Leuphana University Lüneburg. Every year, an author who is respected in the literary world is invited to the Hanseatic city to give a public lecture and a compact seminar at the university. This is accompanied in the summer semester by a seminar in which the works of the guest lecturers are discussed. This gives Leuphana students direct access to contemporary literature and insights into the authors' writing. Since 2009, Uwe Timm, Juli Zeh, Ingo Schulze, Feridun Zaimoglu, Ursula Krechel, Jenny Erpenbeck, Saša Stanišić, Abbas Khider, Antje Rávic Strubel, Peter Stamm, Helene Hegemann, John von Düffel and Ulrike Draesner have visited the university.

 

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Upon request, we will be happy to provide you with a photo of the author for reprinting free of charge.

Contact
Lüneburg Literature Office e.V., Kerstin Fischer
Telephone: 04131-3093687
literaturbuero@stadt.lueneburg.de

Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Henning Zühlsdorff
Phone 04131-677-1007
zuehlsdorff@uni.leuphana.de