When Jenny Erpenbeck was awarded the International Booker Prize for her novel “Kairos” (2021; transl. into English by Michael Hofmann, 2024) in May 2024, international literary critics agreed that as “Germany's most internationally renowned writer”, she more than deserved this important prize. Biendarra’s scholarly collection (co-edited with Julia Schoell) on on Erpenbeck’s novelistic and poetological work comprises essays written by leading international scholars. They deal with topics such as historical storytelling, the GDR past and political responsibility, memory, generational conflicts, and the reaction of literary criticism to Erpenbeck’s novelistic work. The volume is published by Text & Kritik, one of Germany’s most renowned literary journals. Text & Kritik issues dedicated to leading contemporary German-lanaguage writers are standard reference works in literary criticism.
Professor Biendarra has also been invited to the book launch at the Leipzig Book Fair 2024 on March 27, 2024, when she will be in conversation with Jenny Erpenbeck on the topic of contemporary historical storytelling