Austrian Cultural Forum London, 28 Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge, London SW7 1PQ
Wednesday 4 October, 7:00pm (Doors open: 6:30pm)
We are excited to welcome Benjamin Quaderer, one of the most interesting recent literary voices from Liechtenstein and Austria, at the ACF London this autumn. He will read from and discuss his widely acclaimed debut novel Für immer die Alpen (The Alps Forever) with journalist and broadcaster Seán Williams. Williams describes the novel as ‘a crime drama about a data thief, which then turns into a global story of corruption in a nutshell’.
Inspired by the case of the data thief – or whistleblower? – Heinrich Kieber and the 2008 tax scandal, Quaderer has written a story of international intrigue. But the book is also about the identity of a locality nestled between Austria and Switzerland. Quaderer’s inventive and unreliable narrator, Johann Kaiser, is equally fascinating as a clever and charming conman, perhaps reminiscent of Thomas Mann’s Felix Krull, and as a reflection of a society that produced and enabled him.
The reading will be followed by a discussion and Q&A. The event is moderated by Andrea Capovilla, Director of the Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature & Culture at the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies (University of London).
Join us for this bilingual reading and discussion, offering you a fascinating glimpse into Quaderer’s work.
For more information, please click here.
Please R.S.V.P. by 22 September to: office@acflondon.org
The event is organised in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Culture Liechtenstein and the Liechtenstein Cultural Foundation.
Benjamin Quaderer was born in 1989 in Feldkirch, Austria, and grew up in Liechtenstein. He studied creative writing in Hildesheim and Vienna. Für immer die Alpen was awarded the Rauriser Literaturpreis, the Debütpreis der lit. Cologne as well as the Uwe-Johnson-Förderpreis.
Dr. Seán Williams is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, a journalist and broadcaster. He specialises in German and European Cultural History and covered the Principality of Liechtenstein for the Economist on the state’s 300th anniversary.