Reading with Lena Schätte

Description

Lena Schätte: The Black on My Father's Hands
Moderation: Aleksandra Schweizer-Milosevic "Motte" is the nickname given to the first-person narrator by her father. The father is a worker, a player, a drinker. Actually, Motte has two fathers: one who can run fast and knows all the hiding spots when playing, and another who is transferred from the workshop hall to the office so he doesn't cut his hand off while drunk. The mother says that the alcohol issue was common among all men in the family. Motte herself drinks more than is good for her. As a child, she drank the leftovers at the shooting festival until she felt warm; as a young woman, she sometimes sleeps in the hallway because she can't turn the key to lock the door anymore. Only her brother checks on her every day. When her father's cancer is diagnosed in the final stage, Motte searches for a way to say goodbye – to her father and to alcohol. The Black on My Father's Hands by Lena Schätte is a raw, tender novel about growing up in modest circumstances, about love for a difficult father, and the journey into life. Lena Schätte, born in 1993, debuted in 2014 with the novel Ruhrpottliebe. In the following years, she worked as a psychiatric nurse in the Ruhr area until she began studying Literary Writing at the German Literature Institute Leipzig in 2020. For an excerpt from the novel The Black on My Father's Hands, Lena Schätte received the W.-G.-Sebald Literature Prize 2024, the novel was longlisted for the German Book Prize in 2025, and awarded the North Rhine-Westphalia Promotion Prize. In 2026, Lena Schätte received the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize.

Highlights

• Reading by Lena Schätte
• Moderation by Aleksandra Schweizer-Milosevic
• Addresses growing up in modest circumstances

General Information

The reading takes place at Hotel Arc-en-Ciel in Gstaad and presents the novel "The Black on My Father's Hands" by Lena Schätte. The author talks about her relationship with her father and the challenges of life in a difficult environment.

Location

Egglistrasse 24, 3780 Gstaad, Switzerland

Hide Map

Loading map...

How to get there

Get Directions