Norbert Gstrein: Im ersten Licht

In the organizer's words:

Norbert Gstrein gives us a whole human life. Yet every life is fragile in this novel, which begins with an axe blow: Adrian's father makes him unfit for the First World War as a teenager, perhaps saving him in the process. The stubborn, tender man who limps through more than eighty years of life from then on is the wonder of this story. Adrian twice sees his world come to an end, twice has to deal with young men who were less fortunate than him, and in old age experiences the unexpected love story of a man who was brought up to do everything but love.

Norbert Gstrein was awarded the Austrian Book Prize in 2019. His novel Der zweite Jakob was shortlisted for the 2021 German Book Prize and was awarded the Thomas Mann Prize in the same year. Most recently, the novel Vier Tage, drei Nächte (2022) and the autobiographical book Mehr als nur ein Fremder (2023) were published.

Andrea Schwyzer works in Hanover as a freelance radio journalist and presenter for various ARD stations, including NDR Kultur.