Reading: Esi Edugyan and Henrietta Rose-Innes

In her book »These Strangers« – new in the merz&solitude literary series – young Canadian writer Esi Edugyan tells stories whose tragic dimensions slowly unfold over the course of the narration. Details that are briefly mentioned and at first not paid attention to by the readers prove to indicated the destinies that have affected the characters and characterize their lives. In the tradition of North American »storytellers«, Esi Edugyan creates finely-observed and realistic portraits.

Henrietta Rose-Innes reads excerpts from her short story »The Leopard Trap«. On a farm in desolate South Africa, a young woman discovers a prehistoric stone leopard trap. In this ancient construction she finds a metaphor for her own life situation, especially relating to a problematic relationship to a man from the city. The short story was written at Solitude in March/April 2007 and will soon be published in a South African anthology. Rose-Innes is presently working on a collection of short stories that all loosely refer to the connection between urban landscape and wilderness in the Cape Town area.

Sarah Kempin will read the German translations.

Free admission

Esi Edugyan (*1977 in Calgary/Canada) is a creative-writing instructor at the University of Victoria. With her first book The Second Life of Samuel Tyne unanimously praised by critics in Canada and the USA, Edugyan has been celebrated as one of the most promising young authors in North American literature. Esi Edugyan was a Solitude fellow in 2006/07.

Henrietta Rose-Innes (*1971 in Cape Town, South Africa) teaches creative writing at the University of Cape Town. Her first novel, Shark’s Egg was published in 2000; a second book, The Rock Alphabet appeared in 2004. Her short stories and essays have been published in numerous South African publications. In 2007, Rose-Innes won the South African PEN / HSBCPreis and was nominated for the Caine prize in 2007. She is 2007 Akademie fellow.