Hanns-Josef Ortheil's short prose texts revolve around the events of the last five years. The narrative is usually sparked by an event, a piece of news, an encounter - and leads into the autobiographical, philosophical or even humorous. Whether he is describing the agile sociability of penguins or explaining why Jan Vermeer's paintings are so popular - his aperçus always lead to a punch line, expanding from the private or even the incidental to the general. Hanns-Josef Ortheil was born in Cologne in 1951.
He is a writer, pianist and professor of creative writing and cultural journalism at the University of Hildesheim. For many years, he has been one of the most popular and most widely read contemporary German authors. His work has been honoured with many prizes, including the Thomas Mann Prize, the Nicolas Born Prize, the Stefan Andres Prize and the Hannelore Greve Literature Prize. His novels have been translated into over twenty languages.

Reading in the cultural and conference centre Synagoge Wittlich, Himmeroderstraße 47, Wittlich

Start: 7.00 p.m.

dmission: 18,00 €/person