Nina Sonnenberg

A sweltering summer in Munich: While the whole world is at the outdoor pool—including her boyfriend and her child—Nele Kastner sits at her father’s deathbed, waiting with him for death to come. And even though this death is, of course, natural, everything seems like a play just before the end. In the lead role: the conversation that never took place. Since her father can no longer speak, Nele takes it upon herself to tell their shared story—of growing up in a middle-class suburban setting in the 1980s and 1990s. About psychological fasting and crumb neuroses, about firsts and last times, about box races and family rituals. About what keeps you small and what makes you great. And don’t worry—you wouldn’t believe how much humor can be found in these final stories.The magnificent debut novel by the musician and host known as FIVA (FM4, BR2, 3sat, ZDFkultur) has been nominated twice for the Grimme Prize.With an addictive narrative style, Nina Sonnenberg tells the story of suburban youth in the ’90s—of family influences, of life, and of death—with unflinching honesty, tenderness, and captivating wit.

Moderator: Eva Karl Faltermeier “A delicately and sensitively told story that takes all children of the ’80s back to a childhood filled with cigarette smoke and Knorr soups.”—Eva Karl Faltermeier