Reading and Discussion with Martina J. Kohl and Kelly Nyks. FAMILY MATTERS follows the traces of a German family that, over generations, continues to cross the Atlantic in both directions. Like Elizabeth and Little Henry who, at the beginning of the 20th century, are forced to leave their beloved New York to return to the old country or the violinist Clara who can only live her passion for music in the America of the suffragettes. Looking back, they all ask the same question: What if they had not gone to America, or back to the old country? If they had not fallen in love? What if they had taken that other road? Martina J. Kohl revives the past. She shows that today cannot be understood without the yesterday. And that migration, uprooting, and the search for belonging are universal themes.
With FAMILY MATTERS Martina J. Kohl has published her first novel. She teaches at Humboldt University in Berlin and works as an advisory board member of the Salzburg Global American Studies Program. She was coeditor of the American Studies Journal and has worked in the cultural section of the American Embassy in Berlin.
Kelly Nyks is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and New York Times bestselling writer who has worked across the globe. His work has been awarded with an Emmy for Outstanding Documentary Feature (The Age of Consequences), and the Oxfam Global Justice Award (Requiem for the American Dream). He served as Artist in Residence at Harvard University.
In English
Location: In the garden of the Evangelisches Stift (in case of rain: Chapel of the Evangelisches Stift)
Admission: 9 € with Bücherfest-Bändel and d.a.i. members 2 €
In cooperation with Tübinger Bücherfest 2023
© John Self
