Christoph Hein

With more than ten plays, numerous novels and short stories, Hein, who was born in Silesia in 1944 and grew up near Leipzig, has become one of the most important producers of contemporary literature. When he was awarded the Heinrich Mann Prize, the most prestigious literary prize in the GDR, by the Academy of Arts in 1982, he was still largely unknown in West Germany. However, his first play, Schlötel oder Was solls, was staged in Berlin as early as 1974. Often published after a long delay and only performed with moderate success in the GDR, there were hardly any stages in West Germany that included his plays in their repertoire.

With his literature and his political stance, he became an important figure in the GDR transition period. His 1985/86 comedy The Knights of the Round Table (West German premiere at the Kassel State Theatre) became the most frequently performed play in the crumbling GDR in 1989/90, although Hein always denied that he had written a play about the GDR's leadership clique. It is probably more of a burlesque play about communities that block themselves through ritualized thinking and acting. The role of the intellectual and his place in a historical environment are a recurring theme in Christoph Hein's work, as in his first important novel Horns Ende (Horn's End), published in 1985 after several delays.

Hein offered three events in the Eulensaal of the Murhardsche and Landesbibliothek in Kassel from January 23 to 25:

On January 23 at 7 p.m., he spoke about "Literature and imprints. Prerequisites for my work". On January 24 at 4 pm, he held a seminar at the same location and on January 25 at 7 pm, he gave a reading.