Jana Volkmann: Der beste Tag seit langem

In the organizer's words:

With subtle humor, Jana Volkmann tells of animals, people and equal forms of coexistence that are as natural as they are revolutionary.

One summer night in the center of Vienna, two women are on their way home when they come across a stray horse in a small alley. The slightly neglected animal trots after them to their little house in the suburbs and takes up residence in the garden. From then on, the two of them take care of their new roommate. What initially seems like a fairytale fantasy develops into an extraordinary novel about the coexistence of animals and humans, about animal rights and exploitation, about self-determination and its limits. With elegance and wit, Jana Volkmann tells a highly topical story in which chicken factories are stormed, pigs gallop across Simmeringer Hauptstraße - and everyone has to decide for themselves how we want to live in the future ...

Jana Volkmann, born in Kassel in 1983, studied European literature in Berlin and published her first prose texts; she has lived and written in Vienna since 2012. Numerous publications, most recently: "Auwald" (novel, Verbrecher Verlag 2020) and "Investitions-ruinen" (poems, Limbus 2021). For "Auwald" she received the 2021 Bremen Literature Prize and the 2022 Reinhard Priessnitz Prize. As a journalist, she writes for publications including "Der Freitag" and "Tagebuch" and has long been concerned with the question of whether animals (have to) work. Most recently published by Residenz Verlag: "Der beste Tag seit langem" (2024).

Moderation: Arnold Maxwill

An event in cooperation with the Fritz Hüser Institute.