Lit.COLOGNE 2024: Yevgenia Belorusets and Barbara Auer at DEG

Ukrainian novelist and photo artist Yevgenia Belorusets was invited to DEG for a reading from her third book, Modern Animal, as part of the international literature festival Lit.COLOGNE 2024.

In February 2022, Yevgenia Belorusets witnessed the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Kyiv, since when she has published her experiences in the form of diaries, columns and radio features. In 2023, she received the Women of Europe Award. Her third book is a fictional series of lectures dealing with possible and impossible animal-related incidents that blur the lines between people and animals. These include a tiger in the basement of a Kyiv café, a rabbit falling in the Caucasus, and countless dogs and cats living together in a tiny apartment. In Belorusets’s precise yet poetical language, the stories and dialogues create a space for experiences in Ukraine today.

Reading on Day 749 of the war

The reading, which took place on Day 749 of the Russian invasion, was moderated by journalist Sabine Scholt, who is head of the foreign affairs section at German broadcaster WDR. Her interview with the author provided a glimmer of hope in spite of the challenging subject matter. When asked how the book came about, Yevgenia Belorusets explained that, this time, she had permitted herself to write the way she had always wanted to. In many cases, the stories are based on real incidents. She stressed that her intention was not to lecture or preach but rather to “document”. The book shows that people are capable of looking beyond their own borders: “This gives us hope that we will succeed in creating a wonderful society in Ukraine.” But this calls for a considerable degree of heroism.

Appearance by popular actress Barbara Auer

As well as seeing the author herself in person, the 200-plus guests in DEG’ Atrium were treated to a reading by multiple award-winning actress Barbara Auer. Her polished performance brought to life the stories, which ranged from magical and mythical to mysterious and arcane.

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. DEG has been active in Yevgenia Belorusets’s native Ukraine since the mid-1990s and is still there for its Ukrainian customers two years after the Russian war of aggression began. These customers include exporters of agricultural produce and internationally successful IT service providers.