feeLit 2026: Navid Kermani – Sommer 24 | Im Gespräch mit Jagoda Marinic

In the organizer's words:

From July 2 to 5, feeLit - International Literature Festival Heidelberg and its authors will be making a guest appearance at halle02 for the second time. Our festival venue is all about books and writing. This year, feeLit presents national and international literary stars and brings authors together with their audience.

feeLit 2026: Navid Kermani - Summer 24 | In conversation with Jagoda Marinic

Language: German

What is it like when the familiar world dissolves, when what was normal yesterday no longer applies today? Navid Kermani is one of the most precise observers of the present and has been awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, among others. At the feeLit. literature festival, the writer, reporter and orientalist Navid Kermani will read from his novel "Sommer 24" and talk about how we deal with a contradictory present in which old certainties are beginning to crumble:

A friend who had recently gone astray politically has taken his own life. The wars are getting closer and the debates are becoming shriller. His girlfriend thinks the narrator is a macho man, but this is by no means the worst accusation that shakes his self-image. Navid Kermani describes our present in terms of its contradictions and shows how the seemingly irreconcilable can come together and, more importantly, how we can endure the truly irreconcilable.

Navid Kermani, born in Siegen in 1967, lives as a freelance writer in Cologne. He is a habilitated Orientalist and a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry. In addition to his literary work, he reports from war and crisis zones as a reporter. He has received numerous awards for his novels, essays and reportages, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the Thomas Mann Prize. His books have been translated into numerous languages.

"An electrifying read about the mood of the West, in which the liberal order is just a façade."
Max Gösche, Rolling Stone, 03/26

"Condensed to the year 2024, Navid Kermani describes the upheavals of our time and private challenges in his new novel "Summer 24": The suicide of an old friend, the painful separation from his girlfriend, the many political conflicts of our time. Navid Kermani is a keen observer who skillfully points out the contradictions of the present." Ilse Hupfer, Meritas bookshop by Melanie Hofinger

Good to know

• Only cashless payment (EC card, credit card, contactless) is possible at our venue: halle02.de/cashless
• Seated event, free choice of seats
• Local organizer: FeeLit - International Literature Festival Heidelberg