Orte - Ein Harbour-Front-Dialog

A book about homecoming - and about places that know us better than we know ourselves.

Two of the most compelling voices in contemporary German-language literature meet for the first time: Saša Stanišić and Kristine Bilkau create a shared evening at the Harbour Front Literature Festival - exclusive and specially developed for Hamburg.

The event was created as a Harbour Front production and grew out of an open invitation to Saša Stanišić: whom would he wish to join him for an evening? His answer came quickly: Kristine Bilkau. And Bilkau agreed at once.

Neither has worked with the other before. That makes the anticipation all the greater for a meeting that brings two distinct literary voices into a singular dialogue: here an author who writes about origins and memory with narrative playfulness, exploring the possibilities of storytelling; there a writer who, with quiet precision, renders visible the tensions that run through families, societies, and hearts.

Under the overarching theme "Orte" (Places), both embark on a journey through their literary and biographical landscapes. For Stanišić and Bilkau, places are far more than atmospheric backdrop. They tell their own stories and profoundly shape the narratives of people's lives - their social origins, their paths, their futures.

The journey travels to Bilkau's north, where we encounter waterways and tight-knit neighbourhoods, into the city and to a public pool in light drizzle; it ventures into Stanišić's Yugoslavia, to Heidelberg, to the Uckermark, and to summer camps.

In doing so, both illuminate not only their literary presence but also engage concretely with the political and social dimensions of place and belonging. Which social questions are inseparable from our living environments? How do we dwell, how do we live, and what prospects do younger generations face regarding the places they inhabit?