lit.COLOGNE 2025: Gabriela Wiener and Jasmin Tabatabai read at DEG

DEG recently played host to Peruvian author and journalist Gabriela Wiener – whose book “Undiscovered” was nominated for the International Booker Prize 2024 – at a reading as part of international literature festival lit.COLOGNE 2025.

In her autobiographical novel, which was published in German just a few weeks ago, Gabriela Wiener follows in the footsteps of her great-great-grandfather Charles Wiener. In the 19th century, the Austrian-French explorer plundered thousands of huacos (portrait ceramics) belonging to the indigenous population, which are still exhibited in European museums to this day. This journey into the past leads the author to reflect on her own identity, on European colonialism and on racism.

The evening reading took place as part of the 25th anniversary of lit.COLOGNE and was moderated by author and journalist Hernán D. Caro in the sold-out DEG atrium with around 400 guests in attendance.

On the trail of colonial violence

In her interactions with Hernán D. Caro, Gabriela Wiener proved to be a funny and quick-witted guest. When talking to friends, for instance, she refers to her ancestor as a huacero, a “grave robber”, while she describes herself as a “mixture of huaco and huacero” – “a mixture that tears me apart”. As well as her great-great-grandfather, the book deals with the author’s father, whose double life with a second family only came to light after his death. And finally the protagonist Gabriela also plays a role, as a migrant in a polyamorous relationship. Gabriela Wiener explains that her book aims to show her version of the truth and to explore what we can learn from the legacy of colonialism.

One highlight of the reading was the haunting performance of actress Jasmin Tabatabai, who read passages from the German version of the novel, which also struck a personal chord with her: “I know I should remain neutral but I find the book fabulous”, said Tabatabai, who has been at lit.COLOGNE since as far back as its third year. Hernán D. Caros summed up the evening by observing that, even though many questions remained unanswered, this was a good thing because it meant that “the dialogue will continue”.

DEG is a longstanding partner to lit.COLOGNE and regularly plays host to readings so that it can offer a forum to authors from its partner countries and pave the way for a cultural exchange. It has been active in Gabriela Wiener’s native Peru since 2007 and has a representative office in Lima, where it serves its customers in the Andean community. Last year, Ukrainian novelist and photo artist Yevgenia Belorusets was invited to DEG for a reading from her third book, Modern Animal, as part of lit.COLOGNE.