'The Short End of the Sonnenallee' with author Thomas Brussig
Apr 19, 2023 | 6pm ET
Book Launch at the Carl Schurz Auditorium, German Embassy Washington | Speaker: Thomas Brussig
The German Embassy Washington and German Historical Institute present a bilingual book reading The Short End of the Sonnenallee with author Thomas Brussig, Wednesday, April 19 at 6:30 pm (doors 6 pm) at the Carl Schurz Auditorium, German Embassy Washington (4645 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007)
Thomas Brussig’s classic German novel, The Short End of the Sonnenallee (Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee), is finally available to an American audience in a pitch-perfect translation by Jonathan Franzen and Jenny Watson. A moving and miraculously comic story of life in East Berlin before the fall of the Wall, The Short End of the Sonnenallee confounds the stereotypes of life in totalitarian East Germany. Brussig’s novel is a funny, charming tale of adolescents being adolescents, a portrait of a surprisingly warm community enduring in the shadow of the Iron Curtain. As Franzen writes in his foreword, the book is “a reminder that, even when the public realm becomes a nightmare, people can still privately manage to preserve their humanity, and be silly, and forgive.”
A reception with light refreshments follows the bilingual book reading. Copies of The Short End of the Sonnenallee will be available for sale (Apple Pay, credit/debit cards; no cash) and signing by Thomas Brussig. This event is presented by the German Embassy Washington in cooperation with the German Historical Institute, Washington, DC.
- This invitation is valid for you and one guest.
- Please bring a photo ID.
- Admission on a first-come, first-served basis
- Street parking is available
About the author
Thomas Brussig, born in Berlin in 1964, had his breakthrough in 1995 with the novel Helden wie wir. This was followed by Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee (1999), Wie es leuchtet (2004) and the musical Hinterm Horizont (2011), among others. His works have been translated into 30 languages. Thomas Brussig is the only living German writer who has reached an audience of millions with his literary work as well as with feature films and stage work. Most recently, he published the novels Das gibts in keinem Russenfilm (2015) and Beste Absichten (2017). He has received several awards and prizes, is a member of various juries, and is a founding member of the Lübeck "Group 05".