In the organizer's words:

Kalina Serce, the youngest scion of a dynasty of women, investigator of a dark family history, enters a villa that has long been uninhabited. She fumbles for the pre-war ebonite switch to turn on the light. This house in Langwaltersdorf, Silesia, has its own history. Kalina's great-grandmother Berta met her lover here and dreamed of escaping to Prague with him, which her father prevented. Berta's hatred for him becomes so great that she resorts to a monstrous act. Joanna Bator's novel tells of female life plans - and how they fail. The drama of the angry women, who have passed on their secret through the generations, unfolds in an urgent tone. War, violence and misfortune have created the fear and bitterness from whose spell only the youngest, Kalina, emerges by telling her story. She resolutely claims the happiness that was denied to the women in her family.

Joanna Bator (*1968 in Wałbrzych) has published in major Polish newspapers and magazines and worked as a university lecturer until 2011. Since then, she has concentrated entirely on her writing. Since the German translation of her novel Sandberg by Esther Kinsky, Bator has been regarded as one of the most important new voices in European literature. She was awarded the NIKE, Poland's most important literary prize, for Dark, Almost Night, and Bitternis was nominated for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2024.

The event is being held in cooperation with the Institute for Eastern European History at Justus Liebig University, with the kind support of Justus Liebig University Giessen in the Aula in the main university building (Ludwigstr: 23, 35390 Giessen). The evening will be moderated by Diana Hitzke, Laura Loew will provide a translation into German. Free admission and wheelchair access to the venue.