Corinna Harfouch, Clemens Meyer, Volker Hanisch & Jürgen Hosemann: "Wolfgang Hilbig: Die Leipzig-Texte"

On August 31, 2026, Wolfgang Hilbig would have turned 85. The Wolfgang Hilbig Society keeps his memory alive and fosters engagement with his extraordinary body of work. It was founded 15 years ago in Leipzig—the city where the working-class writer first gained literary recognition. How the city is reflected as an important biographical setting in Hilbig’s texts—both well-known ones like “Leipzig-Plagwitz” or “Das Provisorium” and lesser-known ones like “Versuch über Katzen”—is the focus of this birthday celebration. In conversation: Volker Hanisch, who compiled the texts; Clemens Meyer (who writes about Hilbig in Leipzig); and Jürgen Hosemann (Hilbig’s editor at S. Fischer and a Leipzig fan).

Reading of the Leipzig texts: Corinna Harfouch.

Hanisch, Harfouch, Hosemann, and Meyer—four members of the Wolfgang Hilbig Society—will thus kick off the small program “Hilbig 85” at the Literaturhaus Leipzig, which also includes a graphic art exhibition, a conference (starting September 1, at the Literaturhaus and TU Braunschweig, Jan Röhnert), the premiere of a new audiobook (“Alte Abdeckerei,” Buchfunk Leipzig, narrated by Thomas Dehler), and a new film essay about Wolfgang Hilbig.

Admission: 10.00 / 8.00 EUR ǀ Event organized by the Wolfgang Hilbig Society e.V., sponsored by the City of Leipzig and the S. Fischer Foundation

Eligible for reduced admission are people with disabilities and their accompanying person (only if noted on the disability ID card), the unemployed, schoolchildren and students (up to age 35), as well as holders of the Leipzig Pass or a volunteer ID card—in each case, only upon presentation of the ID.)