Join us for an afternoon with Peter Richter, New York Cultural Correspondent of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and author of the recently published novel 89/90 (Luchterhand, 2015). In his autobiographical novel, Richter recounts the tumultuous events of 1989/90 from the perspective of a 16-year-old growing up in Dresden. Full of wry observations, pop cultural and political references (and footnoted to boot), the novel is doubly relevant today: as the portrait of a generation that came of age in the years around German Unification a quarter century ago, but also as the excavation of political developments that continue to resonate even today in Germany’s response to the refugee crisis, and in the political life of the Berlin Republic.
Since 2012, Richter has been reporting from New York for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany’s leading newspapers, about everything from punk rock to the Berlin Philharmonic, and from sneakers to trigger warnings. He is the author of several books, including the novel Gran Via (2009), and Blühende Landschaften: Eine Heimatkunde (2006).

Richter’s reading from his novel (English summaries will be provided), will be followed by a discussion – in English – with Prof. Johannes von Moltke and a Q&A with the audience.