Lesung und Gespräch mit Ilija Matusko

Ilija Matusko Reads from “Jugo”

A father, a son, and a country that no longer exists.

Father and son see each other only once a year—and every time, they end up arguing. The father came to Germany as a young man, started a family here, and worked in the restaurant industry before returning to Croatia decades later. The son now lives in Berlin as a writer and visits him on the Adriatic coast.

In his first novel, “Jugo,”Ilija Matusko explores a father-son relationship that oscillates between closeness and distance, as well as themes of migration, memory, and the question of belonging. Accompanied by the Jugo, the warm southerly wind, father and son clear away old, overgrown paths—and in doing so, draw closer to their shared history.

Ilija Matusko has previously been our guest with his literary debut, *Verdunstung in der Randzone*.In that work, he interwove his own family history with sociological observations on origins and social mobility. With*Jugo*,he returns to some of these themes—this time in the form of a novel.

We are very pleased to welcome Ilija Matusko back to our event with his new book.

An evening about fathers and sons, migration, and origins—and about how family histories continue to shape lives across countries and generations.