Event as part of the 31st Schwerin Literature Days
NELKA – Reading with Svenja Leiber
Lviv, 1941. Sixteen-year-old Nelka is rounded up by soldiers and deported westward along with numerous other girls and women. On a northern German estate, they are forced to perform hard labor. Her father had taught Nelka about fruit growing at an early age, and even as a child she had helped him graft apple trees. Thanks to this knowledge, she is initially able to fend off the estate manager’s advances. She plans the apple orchards for him, and the orchards bring him a fortune after the war. Decades later, Nelka returns to the place of her suffering. She wants Marten to remember what she herself must finally free herself from.
In her novel, Svenja Leiber reveals the traces that the violent history of the 20th century and forced labor have left behind, extending into the present and into the landscapes. She tells the stories of women whose knowledge and bodies were exploited, who formed bonds of friendship and stood up against humiliation and brutality.
Svenja Leiber, born in Hamburg in 1975, studied philosophy, literary studies, history, and art history; she made her debut in 2005 with the short story collection *Büchsenlicht*, followed in 2010 by the novel *Schipino*. Suhrkamp Verlag published “Das letzte Land” in 2014, “Staub” in 2018, and “Kazimira” in 2021. Svenja Leiber lives and works in Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein.
Moderator: Prof . Michael Braun, Literature Advisor at the Adenauer Foundation
Sunday,
, October 11, 2026,
, 4:00 p.m.,
, Kulturforum Schleswig-Holstein-Haus, Puschkinstraße 12
Admission
Advance sales and box office: €5.00 (plus ticket fee)
Click here for TICKETS
Organizers
Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Cultural Office of the State capital Schwerin
