Five short stories by five authors

Five short stories by five authors in a special setting - that's SHORT STORY NIGHT. Where the greats of the movie world usually flicker across the screen, our authors read. After two editions in the open-air cinema in Rheinauhafen, we will be guests at Cologne's Filmhaus in September.

The evening will be hosted by Mona Ameziane.

Reading on September 24:

Jehona Kicaj, born in Kosovo in 1991 and raised in Göttingen, studied Philosophy, German Studies and Modern German Literature in Hanover. After academic publications, she has also been publishing literary texts since 2020. She is co-editor of the anthology "Und so blieb man eben für immer". Guest workers and their children (2023). The novel ë is her debut and is on the longlist for the German Book Prize 2025.

Tijan Sila, born in Sarajevo in 1981, came to Germany as a war refugee in 1994. He studied German and English language and literature in Heidelberg. His first novel "Tierchen Unlimited" was published in 2017, followed by "Die Fahne der Wünsche" in 2018 and "Krach" in 2021. Most recently, his autobiographical book "Radio Sarajevo" (2023) was published by Hanser Berlin. He has also published essays in ZEIT, TAZ and FREITAG. In 2024 he received the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize. Tijan Sila lives in Kaiserslautern.

Kurt Prödel, born in 1991 and raised in North Rhine-Westphalia, is an artist and author. He
made rap music videos, produced audio books and appeared on the late-night show Studio Schmitt. He is the drummer in the punk band The Screenshots. The novel KLAPPER (Ullstein, 2025) is his literary debut. He lives and works in Cologne.

Lisa Sommerfeldt writes plays, radio plays and prose. Her plays are published by S. Fischer Verlag. As a playwright, she sees herself as part of the extended ensemble; her texts are created in close collaboration with dramaturges and directors. In her plays, she combines poetic motifs and dialogs, but also special narrative elements, which she describes as "experienced monologue". She has produced numerous commissioned works for theaters, including the cultural foundation of Landestheater Eisenach and Staatstheater Meiningen, Theater Ulm, Theater der Stadt Aalen and Oper Bonn. Lisa Sommerfeldt has received several awards for her work, including a scholarship at the Künstlerhaus Edenkoben and the Villa Decius in Krakow. Her plays have been translated into Polish, English, French and Russian. She is currently working on a radio play commission for WDR and a play commission for the Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Her prose debut will appear in the Cologne Parasitenpresse in 2026.

Luca Kieser studied philosophy, language arts and ethics in Heidelberg, Leipzig and Vienna. His debut novel "Weil da war etwas im Wasser" was nominated for the German Book Prize 2023 and the Ulla Hahn Literature Prize 2024, among others. His second novel "Pink Elephant" was recently published, which was selected by Books at Berlinale, nominated for the Anna Haag Prize 2025 and awarded the Kranichstein Youth Literature Scholarship by the German Literature Fund. He lives in Vienna.

We are very much looking forward to the texts and the evening together!

SHORT STORY NIGHT is sponsored by the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne, the Kunststiftung NRW and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Thank you very much!