As part of the DAAD-funded Writer in Residence programme, Larissa Boehning and Manchester-based author Zoe Lambert gave a joint reading at the Bluecoat in Liverpool on Thursday 31 March. The evening, ‘A Tour of History: Between War and Wishful Thinking’, was a sell-out success!

Introduced by Dr Lyn Marven of SOCLAS, Zoe and Larissa each read from their forthcoming publications, and then discussed their work with the audience. Zoe gave us a chilling taste of a child soldier’s experience of war in DRC, while Larissa read in both German and English*, transporting us to Moscow in the 1930s in the footsteps of a family fleeing to Germany. The question and answer session afterwards encompassed the role of history, family experiences, campaigning work, loneliness, translation, research and inspiration for stories, as well as planes, trains and automobiles!

Maura Kennedy, Literature Programmer at the Bluecoat, said:

The “Tour of History” event with the University of Liverpool’s German Dept’s writer-in-residence, Larissa Boehning, and one of the NW’s most exciting up-and-coming prose writers, Zoe Lambert, was fascinating and a pleasure to be involved in. As well as introducing high quality new work in English and German to a packed house, the event showcased the importance of Manchester-based independent publisher Comma Press, who champion excellent new English and foreign language authors with their innovative anthologies and single collections.

You can read more about the evening at the Bluebird’s blog.

Zoe Lambert’s collection of short stories, The War Tour, will be published by Comma Press in the summer. Larissa Boehning’s novel Das Glück der Zikaden (The Song of the Cicadas) will be published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch in the autumn.

Photos (c) reproduced with kind permission of the Bluecoat.

* English extract translated by Lyn Marven.