In the organizer's words:

Moderation: Georg Gansen

A radically contemporary novel about the abysmal relationships between sons and their mothers. With a power of language that is astonishing, the award-winning author Ursula Krechel tells of symbiotic motherhood, existentially endangered women and political violence.

For Eva Patarak's son, having to speak to his mother is a crime against the state. For Eva, on the other hand, it is a crime that her son and she are apparently being spied on. What is the aim of Latin teacher Silke Aschauer's surveillance? Is she trying to write a novel? Do the cruel family relationships of antiquity that she prepares for class not offer enough material for fascination? One thing is certain: Silke is far from pulling all the strings, because her own body has started a bloody rebellion against her, forcing her into the role of patient. In their helplessness, both women turn to the Minister of Justice - unaware of the danger they are putting the state representative in. In her highly political and stylistically outstanding novel, Ursula Krechel writes a cultural history of all women - from a Roman emperor's mother to a student councilor, from a saleswoman in a small herbal empire to a minister. It is the story of their resistance to the violence that is physically and psychologically inflicted on them.

Ursula Krechel, born in 1947, was a theater dramaturge. She has taught at the Berlin University of the Arts and Washington University in St. Louis and is a member of the Berlin Academy of the Arts, the German Academy for Language and Poetry in Darmstadt and the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. In 2025 she was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize. She lives in Berlin.

Supported by the F. Victor Rolff Foundation
In cooperation with the Bonn City Library

Price information:

Tickets in advance via Bonnticket 16€ / 8€ / 2,50€, Box Office 18€ / 10€ / 3€