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Matthias Nawrat
Matthias Nawrat is a Polish writer. His work is critically acclaimed and has received several awards. For his 2012 debut novel, he received the Adelbert-von-Chamisso-Förderpreis among others. His 2014 novel, The Enterprise, was nominated for the German Book Prize and won the Kelag Prize and the Bayern 2 Wordplay Prize. His following novel, The Many deaths of Grandfather Jurek won him the Bremen Literature Prize and the Alfred Döblin Medal. Nawrat‘s fourth novel, The Sad Guest, was published in 2019. In 2020, he was awarded the EU Prize for Literature.
Session
The Sad Guest
Matthias Nawrat in conversation with Jonaki Ray
How can the individual come into harmony with the knowledge of his own fragility? The first-person narrator in The Sad Guest, the latest work from renowned German author Matthias Nawrat, must grapple with just this eternal question. Through his encounters with an existential architect, a struggling, alcoholic ex-doctor, and other recollections of his travels, this narrator encourages us to explore the space of possibility between loss of homeland, euphoria of departure, and ceaseless longing. In conversation with poet Jonaki Ray, Matthias Nawrat discusses his portrait of the conflicts of the modern condition, and guides us through the influences and intricacies within his latest novel.