Sanditz - Reading with Lukas Rietzschel; Moderator: Dr. Andreas Wicke

Lukas Rietzschel
, born in 1994 in Räckelwitz in eastern Saxony, studied political science and German language and literature in Kassel from 2012 to 2015. His debut novel, *Mit der Faust in die Welt schlagen* (2018), was a bestseller that was adapted into a film. His second novel, *Raumfahrer*, was published in 2021. Lukas Rietzschel’s novels and plays have received numerous awards, including the Gellert Prize, the Saxon Literature Prize, and the “Text & Sprache” Literature Prize. His novel *Sanditz* is a bestseller.

Dr. Andreas Wicke
has been a lecturer at the Institute of German Studies at the University of Kassel since 2008, specializing in literary studies and the pedagogy of literature.

Sanditz, a small town on the outskirts of the republic. Here live retired officers, civil rights activists, organ builders, tile collectors, local journalists, self-proclaimed resistance fighters, dreamers, early retirees, children, lovers, timid archivists, and the Wenzel family.
With warmth and a multi-perspective approach, Lukas Rietzschel weaves together the stories of the family and the residents of Sanditz into a panorama of German histories—from the end of the GDR to the very present, from the occupation of the local Stasi headquarters to a volunteer’s struggle in Ukraine, from grueling work on West German construction sites to an isolated island existence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A novel about new beginnings and decline, the success and failure of upheaval, friendship and family in times of upheaval, and the desire for belonging and the longing for freedom.