In the organizer's words:

With Kala, Colin Walsh has written a coming-of-age novel that is as suspenseful as it is atmospheric and is now finally being published in German! Join us when he comes to the BUCHBOX! in Kastanienallee together with presenter and literary mediator Magda Birgmann and takes us with him into the small-town tristesse of Northern Ireland.

In the small town of Kinlough on the west coast of Ireland, three old friends meet up again. In the summer of 2003, Helen, Joe and Mush belonged to an inseparable clique around the motherless and impetuous Kala Lanann - the radiant center of their universe. Until she disappeared without a trace shortly afterwards. 15 years later, Helen reluctantly returns to Ireland for a wedding. Joe, a famous musician, is also in town. And Mush has never made it out of Kinlough. Then human remains are found in the woods. Two more girls have disappeared. As present and past collide, the former friends must face up to their guilt. What role did they play in Kala's disappearance?

Colin Walsh comes from Galway and lives in Belgium. He has won several awards for his writing. Kala is his first novel and became a huge bestseller.

Magda Birkmann loves to share her enthusiasm for literature, first as a bookseller, now as the person responsible for press and public relations at the Lettrétage Literature House in Berlin and as a freelance literary mediator. Magda Birkmann was a member of the jury for the German Book Prize 2024.