Literaturhaus Hamburg 2026 - Write Against The Machine

Write Against The Machine opens on Monday 30 November 2026 at 19:30 at Literaturhaus Hamburg, Schwanenwik 38, 22087 Hamburg. The evening is the opening night of the festival "Write Against the Machine", which deals with themes and production conditions in contemporary literature, and brings together three authors who address origins and habitus in their texts in different ways. The questions it raises include how our parents' origins shape us, what poverty means, and whether love succeeds despite class differences.

Lena Schätte, the current Bachmann-Preisträgerin, presents "Das Schwarz an den Händen meines Vaters" (S. Fischer), in which Motte struggles with the family inheritance of the working class and of alcoholism; when her father is diagnosed with cancer, she wants to say goodbye to him and to her addiction. Ilija Matusko's debut novel "Jugo" (Suhrkamp) draws a father-son portrait in which the two argue and wrestle and repeatedly try to come closer to each other.

In "Die zweitgrößte Liebe" (dtv) by Ruth-Maria Thomas, Michelle starts a new life, works her way up in a hotel and meets Henry, who can make a carefree life possible for her. Nefeli Kavouras moderates. The evening is part of the festival "Write Against the Machine", which runs from 30.11. to 3.12.2026 at the HFBK Hamburg and the Ernst Deutsch Theater.