Freiburg proof

We fall in love, there are misunderstandings, our father dies, a friend leaves. Our lives are full of twists and turns, contradictions and secret signs. But how many words does it take to describe this life? With her new volume "Einen Vulkan besteigen" (Piper, 2025), Annette Pehnt enters uncharted territory: without digressions, in straightforward, direct language, she consistently develops the form of "minimal stories". Short texts zoom into other people's lives, touch and surprise. The result is miniatures close to silence: Everything is suddenly inevitable - love, loneliness, death, of course. And then, with delightful brevity, what makes us human is revealed. The multi-award-winning Freiburg writer will talk to Martin Bruch (Literaturhaus) about the precision of the small form and the exploration of spaces between the lines